This tour will return in the winter of 2023/2024. Until then it is available for private tour groups only. Learn more about booking a private tour HERE.

Join Detroit History Tours as we celebrate the Legendary Ladies of Detroit, on this all new, three hour tour. Climb aboard our state of the art motor coach to learn about the Damsels of Design, the first women to design automobiles for General Motors. Explore why the “Motown Sound” may not have made it to the airwaves without Esther Gordy Williams’s brilliant business savvy. Investigate how Ruth Ellis built a community of support in her home, and later in her printshop; becoming one of Detroit’s most influential Black, female, entrepreneurs of the 20th century. And, celebrate that no one could end a line of insightful questioning with “Thank You, Mr. President.” quite like the dean of the White House Press Corps, Helen Thomas. 

This tour includes a very special stop: Canvas Detroit, The intimate, private, space of Detroit jazz performer and legendary lady: Nicole New. We’ll wax poetic on the legendary singers of Detroit’s past, enjoy a drink (inclusive of the ticket price), and be treated to a song or two.

Together with your guide you’ll head towards the water to enjoy a woman owned bar and restaurant (optional drink purchases at guests own expense) while learning about a Detroit shipping heiress, turned Belgian princess.

Detroit women have built, won, invented, inspired, supported, grown, created, owned, sold, lost, and loved, for over three centuries. From the champion Hamtramck tennis duo, known affectionately as Peaches and Plums, to Ms. Rosa Parks tenure living along the Detroit River. Join us in celebrating Esther K. Shapiro, a leader in consumer rights, civil rights, and voting rights along with Florence Knoll Bassett, whom The New York Times called the  “single most powerful figure in modern design.” From the female officers of the Detroit Police Department, who broke barriers, rose through the ranks, and had a few very odd assignments over the years (the Elvis Presley protection squad), to the first female aviators in Michigan and the W.A.S.P’s of WW2. 

Your ticket price includes the tour onboard on our luxury motor coach, along with a small refreshment. Bottled water is provided free of charge onboard the tour. 

Your order confirmation email will serve as your only ticket. Please save your email and be prepared to show it on your phone or printed to board the bus. (We do this to avoid the ticketing fees that come along with all ticketing systems. The price of your ticket will remain the same throughout checkout with no added service charges, fees, or tax.)

This tour is a sequel to our award winning, Wild Women Of Detroit Tour. The stops, topics, and programming are unique to this tour. 

Because drinking and swearing come with the history, all public bus tours are strictly 21 years old and older. (To date the oldest person to come on one of our tours was 97 years of aged awesomeness. We've also hosted a 21st birthday party, and everyone in between!)

Alcoholic beverages are NOT allowed on the bus. Bottled water is provided at no cost and guests may bring snacks or nonalcoholic beverages on board. 

The tour leaves promptly. Late arrivals can not be accommodated.

This tour departs from The Detroit History Club, 3103 Commor St., Hamtramck, MI 48212. Parking is on the street. Doors to the club open 30 minutes before ticketed times; guests are invited to come inside, check into the tour, and relax until the departure time. Bathrooms are available.

If you have a large group consider booking any of our fabulous tours as a private charter. We can arrange to pick your group up from any location, on any day and any time. Check out our Private Tours link for more information.

Meet your guide:

Bailey Sisoy Moore

Bailey Sisoy Isgro is the owner of Detroit History Tours and the proprietress of the Detroit History Club. She is an author, humorist, workaholic, Faygo-loving tour guide from the great City of Detroit. A lover of city ephemera, her most prized possessions include her antique books about Detroit penned by Clarence M. Burton himself, her Library of Congress readers card, her collection of vintage jewelry, and signed pay stubs of Edsel Ford. A frequent essay contributor, her most recent work can be seen in The Detroit Neighborhood Guide Book. Her first children’s book, Rosie A Detroit Herstory, hit shelves in the fall of 2018 from Wayne State Press and is receiving rave reviews. She has appeared on television as a contributor on the Travel Channel’s Tough Boats and Globe Trekker series, is a common guest on history-themed podcasts, and has written op-eds for local papers. She also likes to think her mother is proud. When she isn’t tramping around Detroit giving tours, drinking at century-old bars, and talking history with anyone who’ll join her, she can be found at her home in Highland Park, “a little slice of heaven inside Detroit”. She is meticulous in her research and passionate about historical accuracy, yet she takes great joy in presenting history in the most exciting, playful, and accessible way possible. A passionate connoisseur of all things delicious, she adamantly argues the health benefits of coney dogs and Vernors floats.