Westland, Michigan is a vibrant suburb located just outside of Detroit. With a population of over 80,000 people, Westland has plenty to offer visitors and residents alike. From unique museums and historical villages to fun parks and lively entertainment venues, Westland attractions provide something for all interests and ages.
| No. | Attraction | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan Firehouse Museum | A museum in a 1930s-era fire station showcasing firefighting history with antique engines and over 1,000 fire helmets. |
| 2 | Attwood Park | A 22-acre park offering outdoor recreation, sledding, and free summer concerts. |
| 3 | Rowe House | A tourable 1832 Federal-style home with antique furnishings and original architectural details. |
| 4 | ComedySportz Comedy Club | Improvisational comedy with audience participation, offering family-friendly and mature shows. |
| 5 | General Wayne Stamping Plant Museum | A museum inside a former factory highlighting Westland’s automotive manufacturing history with vintage equipment displays. |
| 6 | Birwood Bowl | A retro bowling alley featuring traditional bowling, arcade games, and comfort food. |
| 7 | Westland Historic Village Park | An open-air museum replicating 19th-century life with antique buildings and historical demonstrations. |
| 8 | H20 Zone Spray & Play Park | A free water park with splash pads, water jets, and a dry zone playground. |
| 9 | Thomas Crawford Park | A municipal park with a recreation center, sports fields, picnic areas, and winter activities. |
| 10 | Westland Shopping Center | A large mall with over 100 stores and eateries, hosting family-centric events. |
| 11 | Fellows Creek Golf Club | An 18-hole golf course with a scenic landscape, wildlife, and comprehensive facilities. |
| 12 | Lathrop House | One of Westland’s oldest homes, showcasing Italianate architecture with modern sustainability updates. |
This article will highlight 12 of the top things to see and do in Westland. We’ll cover fascinating museums like the Michigan Firehouse Museum and the General Wayne Stamping Plant Museum. Family-friendly parks such as Attwood Park and Thomas Crawford Park offer outdoor recreation and events. Historic sites like the Rowe House and the Lathrop House give a glimpse into Westland’s past. And venues like ComedySportz and the Birwood Bowl provide hours of amusement and entertainment.
Whether you’re a life-long resident, a first-time visitor, or just passing through, Westland’s many attractions are sure to make your time here memorable.
1.Michigan Firehouse Museum
Name and Location: Michigan Firehouse Museum is located at 33701 Marquette St, Westland, MI 48185.
History and Significance: The Michigan Firehouse Museum opened in 1987 in a historic fire station built in 1928. It highlights firefighting history in Westland and the surrounding area with antique fire trucks, equipment, photos, and memorabilia.
What to Expect: Visitors can explore classic fire engines, see period firefighting gear and technology, learn about heroic community rescues, and more. Interactive exhibits let guests try on equipment, take the wheel of a vintage fire truck, and slide down the fire pole.
Visitor Information: The Firehouse Museum is open Saturdays 10am-2pm, Sundays 12pm-4pm, and by appointment. Admission is free.
The Michigan Firehouse Museum is one of Westland’s most unique attractions. Located in a working 1930s-era fire station, this museum explores the history of firefighting and fire safety education. Visitors can see antique fire engines and equipment, including a rare 1947 Dodge fire truck.
One of the highlights is an immense collection of fire helmets from around the world, showcasing over 1,000 unique designs. Guests can also try on real firefighter gear and see what it’s like to slide down the station’s historic fire pole. With its engaging exhibits and hands-on experiences, the Michigan Firehouse Museum brings the heat when it comes to family fun.
2.Attwood Park
Name and Location: Attwood Park is a 96-acre public park located at 31900 Park Lane, Westland, MI 48186.
History and Significance: Attwood Park has provided recreation and natural spaces for Westland residents since it opened in 1963. It offers ball fields, courts, playgrounds, walking trails, and access to the Rouge River for community enjoyment.
What to Expect: Visitors will find facilities for baseball, tennis, basketball, volleyball, and more set amid peaceful open green space. The park hosts youth sports leagues and city events like 5K races.
Visitor Information: Attwood Park is open daily from sunrise to sunset. Amenities like restrooms, concessions, and free parking make it easy to access and enjoy.
For outdoor recreation and seasonal events, Attwood Park is a prime Westland destination. This 22-acre park offers plenty of amenities to enjoy, including hiking trails, basketball courts, ball fields, and a large playground.
The park comes alive in winter with a popular downhill sledding hill that draws thrill-seekers from across the region. An on-site warming station provides a reprieve on cold days. When summer hits, Attwood Park hosts free concerts at its amphitheater stage every week for residents to come out and enjoy live music.
With its rolling hills and abundant facilities, Attwood Park is a beloved community focal point year-round.
3.Rowe House
Name and Location: The Rowe House is a historic home at 8757 N. Wayne Rd, Westland, MI 48185.
History and Significance: The Romanesque Revival-style Rowe House was built in 1885 by local businessman John Rowe. It remained a Rowe family residence for over 100 years and retains much of the original Victorian interior and furnishings.
What to Expect: Guests can tour this beautifully preserved historic home to get a glimpse of late 19th century life. Nine rooms feature period decor like chandeliers, ornamental plaster, and marble fireplaces.
Visitor Information: The Rowe House is open Saturdays & Sundays 2pm-4pm from June through August or by appointment. Guided tour admission is $3 for adults, $1 ages 6-17.
Step back in time with a tour of the historic Rowe House, built in 1832. One of Westland’s remaining 19th-century homes, this building predates Westland itself by over 50 years. It’s styled in the Federal design with its symmetrical shape, peaked roof, and pastoral surroundings.
Visitors can explore the rooms of this carefully preserved house to see examples of antique furniture along with early wall and window designs.
Some of the home’s unique touches include original wood plank floors, eight handmade wooden doors, and wavy glass windows that date back before the invention of plate glass. History truly comes alive at Westland’s venerable Rowe House.
4.ComedySportz Comedy Club
Name and Location: ComedySportz Comedy Club performs at 28933 Warren Rd Westland, MI 48185 inside the Bench Warmers Sports Complex.
History and Significance: ComedySportz has offered audiences interactive improvisational comedy shows since 1984. The Westland club opened in 2013 and stages family-friendly comedy performances every weekend.
What to Expect: ComedySportz features two teams competing for laughs as they improvise scenes and games based on audience suggestions. With audience participation encouraged, no two shows are ever the same.
Visitor Information: ComedySportz has shows most Fridays at 8 pm and Saturdays at 7 & 9 pm. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 ages 4-12, free under 4.
For big laughs and unique improvisational comedy shows, look no further than ComedySportz. This club features two teams of comedian actors competing in a series of hysterical improv games and sketches. A referee controls the action and the audience gets to award points.
The shows are 100% improvised based on audience suggestions, so no two shows are ever the same. The family-friendly ComedySportz also offers specialty themed shows for holidays, inclusive performances, and late-night sets for more mature humor.
With affordable tickets, great food and drinks, and interactive funny shows almost every night of the week, ComedySportz is guaranteed laughs.
5.General Wayne Stamping Plant Museum
Name and Location: The General Wayne Stamping Plant Museum is at 33484 Cherry Hill Rd Westland, MI 48186.
History and Significance: This stamping plant operated from 1965-2005, producing bodies for Ford Thunderbirds, Lincoln Continentals, and more. Converted to a museum in 2015, it highlights Westland’s pivotal role in the auto industry.
What to Expect: The museum contains equipment and products from the original plant’s operation and shows videos detailing processes like stamping and welding. Guests can view vintage vehicles built onsite.
Visitor Information: The Stamping Plant Museum is open Saturdays 10am-2pm free of charge or groups can arrange weekday tours for a fee.
Westland has an automotive manufacturing history, and this unique museum located inside a former factory celebrates that heritage. The enormous General Wayne Stamping Plant specialized in cutting and shaping intricate metal automobile body components.
During its over 60 years of operation, the plant formed steel parts for classic cars like the Ford Thunderbird and Lincoln Continental. Visitors to the plant museum can see a fascinating display of vintage auto body stamping equipment.
Some are even still operational for demonstrations during tour events. With its combination of industry history along with the evolution of automation technology, the General Wayne Stamping Plant Museum offers an educational look into Westland’s manufacturing past.
6.Birwood Bowl
Name and Location: Birwood Bowl is located at 30995 Six Mile Rd Livonia, MI 48152, just over the Westland border.
History and Significance: Birwood Bowl first opened to the public in 1946. Known for its unique Barrel Bar and live entertainment, it has been a popular spot for bowling, food, and fun for over 75 years.
What to Expect: The facility offers 32 bowling lanes, billiards, arcade games, the Barrel Bar, and casual dining options. Guests can bowl or just come for drinks, music, and good company.
Visitor Information: Birwood Bowl is open daily from 11am-2am. Bowling costs $4-8 per game with shoe rental extra. All ages welcome.
For old-fashioned family fun, Birwood Bowl can’t be beat. Operating since 1946, this bowling alley landmark features 26 traditional lanes of ten-pin bowling.
The venue has an enduring retro charm with timeless amenities like sieves for manual scoring, classic ball returns, and plastic seating in eye-catching hues of aquamarine and coral. Beyond bowling, visitors can play classic arcade games, shoot pool in the billiards lounge, or grab delicious comfort food from the snack bar like burgers, fries, and their signature overstuffed sandwiches.
With weekly glow bowl nights, Friday night cosmic rock and bowl, and everyday affordability, Birwood Bowl keeps the good times rolling.
7.Westland Historic Village Park
Name and Location: Westland Historic Village Park is located at 857 N. Wayne Road Westland, MI 48185.
History and Significance: Opened in 2005, Historic Village Park recreates life in Victorian era Westland through restored and replica buildings from over 12 acre site. Most structures date 1860-1910.
What to Expect: Guests can explore buildings like a one-room schoolhouse, log cabin, church, barn, mills, shops, and typical houses of the period. Park workers dress in period clothing. Special events held seasonally.
Visitor Information: Westland Historic Village Park is open April-November, Tuesdays-Sundays 12 pm-4 pm, closed Mondays. Admission is free.
Historic Village Park recreates 19th-century small-town life with a collection of salvaged antique buildings combined into an open-air museum. The park features famous homes from Westland’s early history like the Holliday House built in 1874 and the Octagon House constructed around 1850.
Additional buildings include an old jailhouse, schoolhouse, barn, carriage factory, church, and lumberyard. History interpreters often populate the grounds dressed in period clothing and demonstrating heritage skills like open fire cooking, quilting, and gardening.
Visitors are welcome to interact and ask questions. By preserving structures and customs of the past, Westland’s Historic Village Park provides entertaining and immersive living history.
8.H20 Zone Spray & Play Park
Name and Location: H20 Zone Spray & Play Park is located at 37550 Cherry Hill Rd Westland, MI 48185 inside Jefferson Barns Community Vitality Center.
History and Significance: Opened in 2017, the H20 Zone provides accessible and affordable water recreation with unique playground splash pads, spraying tunnels, dumping buckets and more.
What to Expect: This 4,300 square foot aquatic park offers wheel-chair accessible splash areas, dancing water jets, slippery slides, and fun for all ages at the heart of Jefferson Barns complex.
Visitor Information: H20 Zone is open daily Memorial Day through early September. Admission is $3 for kids & seniors, $4 adults. Season passes available.
When summertime temperatures peak, Westland residents know where to go for some cool water fun. H20 Zone Spray & Play Park features splash pads, tipping buckets, water jets, vortex sprinklers, and dozens more interactive wet elements.
This completely free water park also has exciting dry zone playground components adjacent to the soak zone. Kids can climb three stories up a challenging tower maze with tube slides leading back down.
For tiny tots, a miniature village exists with pint-sized buildings, activities, and spray toys sized just right for little hands. With plenty of family-friendly aquatic amusement during hot weather, H20 Zone is the place to make a splash.
9.Thomas Crawford Park
Name and Location: Thomas Crawford Park is located at 33300 Warren Rd Westland, MI 48185 across from Westland City Hall and Westland Public Library.
History and Significance: Thomas Crawford Park was dedicated in 2003 to honor Westland native Thomas Crawford, a NYC police officer killed assisting victims in the 9/11 World Trade Center attack.
What to Expect: This small memorial park features a Walk of Honor with granite slabs noting 9/11 victims. Visitors will also find park benches, flower gardens, patriotic statuary, and a plaque detailing Thomas Crawford’s sacrifice.
Visitor Information: Thomas Crawford Park is open year-round with 24 hour access. Admission is free.
For municipal park space with abundant amenities, Thomas Crawford Park delivers. Its 126 acres contain a large recreation center with a gym, weight rooms, indoor track, and multipurpose courts for holding exercise classes and youth sports.
Adjacent to the center are numerous lighted ballfields for softball, baseball, cricket, and soccer. Elsewhere in the park families can enjoy shaded picnic pavilions, barbecue grills, playgrounds, a fishing pond, and walking trails circling a small lake.
During cold months the park even offers winter activities like sledding hills, ice skating, and hockey. With so much to experience across all seasons, Thomas Crawford Park is a year-round recreational asset.
10.Westland Shopping Center
Name and Location: Westland Shopping Center is located at 35000 W Warren Rd, Westland, MI 48185.
History and Significance: Opened in 1965, Westland Shopping Center was the first major retail center in the city. Anchored by department stores like Macy’s, Sears, and JC Penney, it continues to be the premier shopping destination in the region 50+ years later.
What to Expect: Spanning over 1 million square feet with 100+ stores and eateries, shoppers will find apparel, shoes, home goods, electronics, health and beauty, food options, and more at this expansive indoor mall.
Visitor Information: Westland Shopping Center is open Monday-Saturday 10 am-9 pm, Sunday 11 am-6 pm with extended holiday hours.
As one of Michigan’s largest single-story malls, Westland Shopping Center offers major retail therapy. The mall’s anchor stores include big names like Macy’s, JC Penney, Von Maur, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Target. In total there are over 100 other popular stores and eateries.
Fashionistas flock to Westland Shopping Center to browse brands like Victoria’s Secret, Build-A-Bear, Yankee Candle, Kay Jewelers, and more.
The center court area hosts kid and family-centric events throughout the year like LEGO festivals, princess meet-and-greets, pet adoption drives, and live entertainment. For convenient tax-free shopping just off Interstate 275, Westland Shopping Center is a premier regional destination.
11.Fellows Creek Golf Club
Name and Location: Fellows Creek Golf Club is located at 2936 Lotz Rd Canton, MI 48188 right on the Westland border.
History and Significance: Opened in 1927, Fellows Creek is one of Michigan’s oldest public golf courses. Its classic layout mixes wooded areas, elevation changes, and water hazards across 18 holes for a fun challenge. An affordable alternative to private clubs.
What to Expect: This full-service public course offers a driving range, pro shop, club rentals, lessons, league play, outings, a lounge, and full-service restaurant. Well-maintained greens and fairways make Fellows Creek popular with both beginners and experienced golfers.
Visitor Information: Fellows Creek Golf Club is open year-round, weather permitting. Call for tee times and pricing. Juniors and senior discounts available.
For scenic links complete with abundant wildlife, the public Fellows Creek Golf Club cannot be beaten. This 18-hole championship course was designed by acclaimed golf architect Ray Hearn. Play ranges from reasonably challenge for beginners to demanding for seasoned golfers from the tips at 7,055 yards.
The front nine holes wind through lush wetlands and thick mature forests that attract native songbirds, turtles, ducks, and deer families. The course’s distinct back nine holes traverse over rolling terrain granting lovely vistas.
Additional amenities include a large practice area, pro-shop stocked with premium gear, private instruction, and Tin Cup Bar & Grill for 19th-hole refreshments. For total golf enjoyment just minutes from Westland’s attractions, Fellows Creek is a course to discover.
12.Lathrop House
Name and Location: The Lathrop House is located at 30724 Ann Arbor Trail Westland, MI 48185.
History and Significance: This historic home was built in 1880 in Italianate Victorian style for businessman Clinton Lathrop and wife Catherine. Restored in 2000, it’s operated as a house museum displaying 19th century furnishings and Westland history.
What to Expect: Visitors can tour the antique-filled Lathrop House to learn about Victorian era life and early Westland. Nine rooms showcase original woodwork, wallpaper and lighting along with period pieces like an 1877 pump organ.
Visitor Information: Lathrop House tours are available Saturdays & Sundays 1-4 pm, June-August or by appointment. Admission is $3 adults, $1 ages 6-17.
Lathrop House, situated on a pretty residential street, is one of the oldest surviving homes in Westland dating to 1870. This historic Italianate-style farmhouse charmingly blends architectural heritage with modern sustainability updates.
Recycled brick, reclaimed wood, and other repurposed materials were utilized in restoration work along with ecologically-friendly enhancements. Inside the bright white home, visitors can admire the original layout with its grand arched stairway, six genteel bedrooms, antique light fixtures, and handcrafted wooden trim accents everywhere.
An aging barn on-site adds extra old-time authenticity. Lathrop House creatively bridges the past and future with its historic renovated residence.
Conclusion
With its diverse collection of museums, parks, entertainment hot spots, historic sites, and other attractions, Westland provides something for all interests. Families can bond at kid-centric spots like Attwood Park or H20 Zone Spray Park, while history lovers will appreciate the Rowe House and other heritage destinations.
Nightlife seekers and comedy fans alike will enjoy venues like ComedySportz and Birwood Bowl. Outdoorsy types have numerous recreation options as well. Whether you call Westland home or you’re just exploring Detroit’s western suburbs, putting these 12 attractions on your itinerary is sure to keep you happily occupied.