The Ford Museum Reopened in June, and Old Reviews No Longer Apply

The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum reopened on 7 June 2026 after a nine-month closure for a renovation costing around thirteen million dollars. The work included a new DeVos Learning Center, reported at about eight million dollars and occupying nearly eight thousand square feet with three classrooms and a conference room.

The practical point for visitors is simple: any review, article or guidebook written before the closure describes an interior that has been substantially rebuilt. If you visited a decade ago, it is worth going again.

The museum sits on the west bank of the Grand River, on the northern edge of downtown, and its riverfront location is part of the story. Gerald Ford grew up in this city, represented it in Congress for twenty-five years, and is buried on the museum grounds beside the river along with Betty Ford. A great many visitors do not realise the burial site is there until they walk out through the exit, which is a strange and quite affecting way to end a museum visit.

Ford is the only president from Michigan and the only one never elected to either the presidency or the vice presidency, and the museum does not dodge the difficult parts of that: the Nixon pardon has its own treatment rather than a footnote.

Allow two hours. It is a two-hour building and rushing it in forty minutes between other things is a waste of the admission.

Two scheduling notes. The museum is separate from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, which is in Ann Arbor on the other side of the state and serves researchers rather than general visitors. And the museum sits directly alongside the stretch of riverfront now under construction for the rapids restoration project, so pedestrian routing along the river changes as that work proceeds.

Admission is charged and hours are published by the museum. Confirm both before travelling, particularly around federal holidays.