Photos: Henry Ford Museum

photo by Scott Beale

I was in Detroit last week and while there I visited the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, which is part of The Henry Ford, also home to Greenfield Village. This museum is an awesome testament to the history of American innovation and automation. It is so large, 12 indoor acres, that it even contains a couple of complete trains, both engines and cars with tracks built into the museum floor as well as several full-sized planes including a Douglas DC-3. Other notable installations were several of the Lincoln Continental presidential limousines, including the one that JFK was riding in when he as assassinated in Dallas, an entire motel room from a 70’s era Holiday Inn, Lamy’s Diner, a 1940’s diner transplanted from Marlboro, Massachusetts, an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and even the refurbished Rosa Parks bus.

photo by Scott Beale

One of the highlights of the museum was R. Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House, a 1946 home-of-the-future constructed out of aircraft material. Only one was ever built and the museum purchased it from the original owners and refurbished it to Bucky’s original specifications.