Belrockton Museum
108 Hanover
PO Box 45
Belding, Michigan 48809
(616) 794-1900, ext 425

Open 1st Sunday of Each Month, 1-4 p.m.
Tours, Meetings and Programs by Appointment

Send an Inquiry:
Contact City Hall

120 S. Pleasant Street
Belding, Michigan 48809
Phone: (616) 794-1900
Fax: (616) 794-0091
Emergencies: Phone 911
Belding Museum at the
Historic Belrockton

Download These Items:
Belrockton Reservation Request Form
Belrockton Use Rules

The Belding Museum is located in the historic Belrockton at 108 Hanover Street. The Bel, as it is affectionately known by locals, is a designated Michigan Historical Site.

The Classical Revival structure is a museum in itself! It was built in 1906 by the Belding Brothers and Company as a boarding house for the single young women employed in the silk mills. Later the building served as housing for the National Youth Administration during the Depression, and then as a youth center. It now serves as Belding's Community Center.

The Belding Museum occupies three floors of the Bel. Thousands of items are on display for your enjoyment! Discover our town's unique past as an international producer of silk thread in the early part of the twentieth century! Trace the development of refrigerators from the first wooden iceboxes. Or perhaps you'd be interested in some of the early medical equipment... like a tonsil extractor?

We offer several different programs for all ages and interests. We offer speakers on various topics to the local schools and to groups. We sponsor a golf outing at the Candlestone Resort and the Labor Day Duck Race each year. In the fall we host a quilt show and raffle in conjunction with the Silk City Quilters.

Whatever your interests, the Belding Museum has something for you! Spend a while exploring our past!
We have several upcoming events. See our schedule below, to make sure you don't miss them.

The Belding Museum is surrounded by
lovely gardens.


Known as the Belrockton, it was once a
women's dormitory for area silk mills.


The Belding Museum offers many fine
programs and cultural events.

Text from the Michigan Historical Site
plaque, standing outside the building:

BELROCKTON DORMITORY

Built In 1906, the Belrockton is the last remaining boarding house of the three provided by the Belding Brothers and Company for its single female workers. A major silk manufacturer during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the company employed hundreds of young women and earned Belding the title of "Silk City of the World." Providing accommodations for one hundred residents and staff, the Belrockton Dormitory, a Classical Revival-inspired building, was erected at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. Following the closing of the company's silk mills in 1935, the "Bel" served as a residential training center for the National Youth Administration. In 1943 the building became a recreation center. The city of Belding purchased the structure in 1950 to serve as a community center. In 1987 it became the home of the Belding Museum.