Grand Traverse Heritage Center

In 1934, Traverse City Park’s commissioner, Con Foster, had an idea. He wanted to create a park along the lakeshore at the south tip of the West Grand Traverse Bay. The park would have a zoo, a beach house and a historical museum about the region. Over the next several years, Con Foster traveled over 15,000 miles throughout the Midwest buying Native American and pioneer artifacts to display in the museum. In 1935, the Works Progress Administration built a building to house this collection and it was later named the Con Foster Museum. For the past 70 years this collection has grown to over 10,000 artifacts.