Port Huron Museum reports 65,800 visitors in 2024, previews Carnegie centennial and upgraded pilot-house exhibit

Leaders of the Port Huron Museum told the Port Huron City Council on the evening’s agenda that the museum system drew more than 65,800 visitors across four sites in 2024 and that nearly 50,000 of those visitors came from outside St. Clair County.

The museum’s executive director, Veronica Campbell, said the Carnegie Museum hosted nine rotating exhibits in 2024 and adopted a new model of staging its major exhibit from April through September; last year’s Barbie exhibit brought about 7,000 visitors to the Carnegie over six months. Campbell also said the museum is partnering with the Friends of the St. Clair River on an April–September nature exhibit titled Blue Water, Green Spaces.

The presentation reviewed several multi-year restoration projects. Campbell said the D.B. Harrington locomotive restoration is complete and now on display at the Wrigley Center downtown; the Fort Gratiot Post Hospital work continues as an interpretive preservation project; Cameron Cabin has finished phase one and funding for phase two has been secured; and the museum’s pilot-house exhibit received technology upgrades to allow visitors to simulate steering a freighter up the St. Clair River.

A museum representative asked council members to save May 1 for the Carnegie Center’s 100th‑anniversary celebration and for the opening of the pilot‑house digital experience. Mayor Ashford thanked the museum staff and trustees for their work and for partnering with the city on maintenance and repairs of museum‑owned properties.

Why it matters: Council members and the city manager described the museum as a downtown tourism driver; the visitor numbers and the museum’s partnerships with donors and other organizations were cited as part of broader downtown revitalization and tourism strategies.