06/02/2026
On May 26, 1925, Dan Robbins, the inventor of the "paint by number" craft system, was born in Detroit. Robbins attended Cass Technical High School and conceived the idea for paint by number in 1949 after being inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, who would hand out numbered patterns to his apprentices.
🎨 We're paying homage to Robbins with a new paint-by-number style mural that will be installed this summer at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum! You can submit YOUR original art to be considered for the design at detroithistorical.org/mural