The exhibit showcases the evolution of the Winged Wheel jersey over the years. // Photo by Will Reaume
The Detroit Red Wings are part of an exclusive NHL club — the Original Six — which traces its lineage back to the earliest days of the league. In honor of the storied franchise’s centennial season, the Detroit Historical Museum is celebrating its history.
Spanning two floors, the Becoming Hockeytown: Detroit Red Wings at 100 exhibit takes visitors back to the days before the team adopted the Model T-inspired logo. In addition to displaying artifacts from the Detroit Historical Society’s archives, the museum collaborated with the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, the Windsor Community Museum, and collectors around the state to bring in pieces of hockey history.
As you enter the exhibit, you’ll find relics from the Red Wings’ earliest playing days, when they were called the Detroit Cougars, formerly the Victoria Cougars. The Windsor Community Museum provided a program from a 1925 exhibition game, played against the New York Americans at Windsor’s Border Cities Arena.
Other items, like the original organ from Olympia Stadium, came from local collectors. Jeremy Dimick, the Detroit Historical Museum’s curator, reached out to the owner of a local piano-moving company, who had the instrument in his Dearborn Heights home.
A view of the “Becoming Hockeytown: Detroit Red Wings at 100” exhibit at the Detroit Historical Museum. // Photo by Will Reaume
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While you’ll find mainstays like game-worn jerseys and Sergei Fedorov’s signed skates, the museum also shines a light on some lesser-known but equally important moments — like the 1954 outdoor game the Red Wings played against prisoners in Marquette. The game took place at Marquette Branch Prison, where the reigning Stanley Cup-champion Red Wings took on the 4-1-1 Marquette Prison Pirates. By some accounts, the score was 18-0 by the end of the first period, and eventually, the inmates withdrew from playing and watched the Red Wings scrimmage instead.
In honor of their win, the Red Wings were awarded the Doniker Trophy — a toilet pail used by inmates. The trophy is on display at the museum, and visitors can find the names of Red Wings greats like Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio, Terry Sawchuk, and Ted Lindsay etched into the pail, just like the Stanley Cup’s engravings.
The original organ from Olympia Stadium is on display until Nov. 22. // Photo by Will Reaume
The exhibit is open to the public until Nov. 22, giving fans a chance to experience the big wins, defining moments, and little-known tidbits from the last 100 years of Red Wings hockey.
The Detroit Historical Museum, located at 5401 Woodward Ave., is open Wed.-Sun. $15, adults; $8, children. Free admission with a Detroit Historical Society membership or DHS’s Detroiter membership (free for residents of Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck). detroithistorical.org.
This story originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Click here to get our digital edition.