Richard and Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museum

Richard and Jane Manoogian
Mackinac Art Museum

7070 Huron Street
Mackinac Island, Michigan 49757
(906) 847-3328 during season
(231) 436-4100 off season

Open May 10 - October 6, 2024
2024 admission Adults: $10 5 - 12 years: $6.50

Mackinac Island Home

Richard and Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museum - Mackinac Island, Michigan

The Richard and Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museum on Mackinac Island, Michigan opened in 2012 after a several year renovation of the former "Indian Dormitory." The new art museum is an unexpected delight that continues to exceed expectations several years later. The Mackinac Art Museum is a perfect fit for Mackinac Island. It has original art from and about the Island going back hundreds of years and displays of souvenirs going back over 150 years.

The displays are presented and explained in an effective modern method using touch screens. I particularly enjoyed the mid 19th century to mid 20th century photographs, the early souvenir plates & glassware, and the historic maps of the Great Lakes region. Admission is included with the ticket for the Historic Downtown Mackinac buildings or Fort Mackinac, but is worth the $10 on its own. Spring and fall, the museum is open 10 AM – 4:30 PM, with the last admission at 4 PM. June 1 - September 1, the museum stays open until 6PM.

Admission is free with proof that you are staying overnight at a hotel which is a member of the Mackinac Island Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Mackinac Island

Fort Mackinac

Mackinac Island in Winter

Mackinac Island Carriage Tour

Stuart House City Museum

Mackinac Bridge

Mackinac Island souvenirs

Earthenware cups and mugs - Mackinac Art Museum
Earthenware souvenirs were made in large numbers from the 1890s through the first half of the 20th Century

William Beaumont sculpture - Mackinac Island Art Museum
William Beaumont bronze relief by Marshall Fredericks

Island Building Sign - Mackinac Art Museum
1934 Island Building Sign by E.R. Homins and J.W. Miximony

Native American crafts at Mackinac Art Museum
Native American baskets, birch bark, beadwork and other crafts

Building the Bridge - Mackinac Straits etching by Reynold Henry Weidenaar

Fort Mackinac oil painting - Mackinac Art Museum
Untitled 19th Century oil painting with Fort Mackinac at left

A Mackinac Tradition with Family and Friends by Diane Neyer

art for sale - Mackinac Island Art Museum
Art by various artists that is available for sale

William H. Gardiner photographs - Mackinac Island Art Museum
Original 19th & 20th Century photographs of Mackinac Island by William H. Gardiner

Mackinac Ware rim fragment of pottery found during excavations to the immediate north of the Indian Dormitory

History of the Museum Building

The Indian Dormitory was constructed in 1838 to house Native Americans who came to Mackinac Island to receive payment as part of the provisions of the 1836 Treaty of Washington. Most Native Americans who arrived on the Island chose instead to camp on the shore and the dormitory was primarily used by Indian Agents as an administrative building. The most famous of the Indian Agents was Henry Schoolcraft who learned a great deal of the Ojibewe language and legends from his mixed race wife, Jane Johnston, and passed that along to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who incorporated those legends in The Song of Hiawatha.

Eventually the building was converted into a schoolhouse for island children and it served as the Mackinac Island Public School for nearly 100 years.

Mackinac State Historic Parks purchased the building in the 1960s, restored it to its 1836 appearance, added exhibits and operated the building as a museum until 2002. Conversion of the unused building to an art museum began in 2007 and it opened as the the Richard and Jane Manoogian Mackinac Art Museum in 2012.

Mackinac Island home Mackinac Island in winter

Lighthouses of the Straits of Mackinac Mighty Mac Home