Larz Anderson Auto Museum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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The Carriage House of Larz Anderson Auto Museum
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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Carriage House
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| Location | Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts |
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| Built | 1888 |
| Architect | Edmund M. Wheelwright |
| Part of | Larz Anderson Park Historic District (ID85003245) |
| MPS | Brookline MRA |
| Added to NRHP | October 17, 1985 |
The Larz Anderson Auto Museum is a super cool place located in the old Anderson Carriage House. You can find it inside Larz Anderson Park in Brookline, Massachusetts. This museum holds the oldest collection of cars in the whole United States!
It's a special place that teaches people about cars and how they changed our world. The museum hosts fun events, talks, and programs just for kids. You can also take walking tours of the park and see different car exhibits that change often.
Contents
The Museum's Story
The amazing car collection started with a couple named Larz Anderson and Isabel Weld Perkins. They bought their first "horseless carriage" in 1899, right after they got married. It was made by the Winton Motor Carriage Company. Over the years, the Andersons bought at least 32 new cars! They also had 24 horse-drawn carriages and 6 sleighs.
As their cars got older, the Andersons kept them safe in the Carriage House on their big 64-acre estate near Greater Boston. By 1927, they even opened the Carriage House so people could come and see their vehicles.
When Isabel Anderson passed away in 1948, she gave her entire Brookline estate, including the mansion, carriage house, and land, to the Town of Brookline. She wanted the car collection to be called the "Larz Anderson Collection." She also made sure a non-profit group would take care of the cars.
The Awesome Carriage House
The Carriage House, where the museum is today, was designed by a Boston architect named Edmund M. Wheelwright. It was finished in 1888. The building's design was inspired by a famous castle in France called Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire.
This building is huge! It used to store carriages and house horses. The people who worked with the horses also lived on the top floor. When the Andersons started collecting cars, they added a garage in the basement to fix the vehicles.
What Cars Can You See?
Out of the original 32 cars the Andersons owned, 14 are still part of the museum's collection today. These are some of the cool cars you can find there:
- 1899 Winton Phaeton
- 1900 Rochet-Schneider
- 1901 Winton Bullet
- 1903 Gardner-Serpollet
- 1905 Electromobile
- 1906 Charron-Girodot et Voigt
- 1907 Fiat
- 1908 Bailey
- 1910 Panhard et Levassor
- 1912 Renault
- 1916 Packard Twin Six
- 1924 Renault Torpedo
- 1925 Luxor Taxi
- 1926 Lincoln Limousine
Other Cool Transports
Besides some of the original horse-drawn carriages and sleighs from the Anderson and Weld families, the museum also has a collection of old bicycles. These bikes belonged to Dr. Ralph W. Galen, who loved cycling.
Fun Events at the Museum
The museum hosts many activities all year long. People who love specific types of cars come from all over the Northeastern United States. They often bring their own rare cars to meet other hobbyists who share their passion.
Some of these events include British Car Day, Cadillac Day, German Car Day, Japanese Car Day, and many more. There's even a "Tutto Italiano" event just for Italian cars! You can find a full list of these "Lawn Events" on the museum's website.
The museum also has talks about transportation or local history. Sometimes, they even have music concerts in "The Carriage House Concert Series."
Recently, the museum started "rolling" events. These are organized drives for museum members and other car fans. Some are overnight trips, where people travel together and stay in a hotel. Others are single-day trips that start near Boston and go to a fun place about 2 to 2.5 hours away.
The Museum Library
The Library and Archives at Larz Anderson Auto Museum are full of materials about cars, racing, and transportation history. You can also find documents about carriages, motorcycles, and bicycles. The library has a huge collection of materials from the Packard Motor Company.
The library also keeps information about the state of Massachusetts and the Andersons themselves. This includes a collection of books, plays, and poems written by Isabel Anderson.
How the Museum Changed Over Time
In 1971, the Andersons' carriage house became known as the Museum of Transportation. This happened with help from the Veteran Motor Car Club of America. Duncan Smith led a team there for six years. He was very proud of a special presentation that showed the history of the bicycle. At that time, it was the only world-class bicycle history exhibit in the U.S. The museum had changing exhibits of cars, motorcycles, carriages, and bicycles. They even had old movie clips of cars from the 1920s. Visitors could watch demonstrations of high-wheeled bicycles and ride in an old 1937 fire engine.
The Museum of Transportation at Larz Anderson Park closed on December 31, 1977. It then teamed up with The Children's Museum of Boston. The museum reopened in 1979, sharing space with The Children's Museum in downtown Boston. But this partnership didn't last long, and the antique car collection moved back to its home at Anderson Park in the 1980s.
Since then, the museum continues to show off amazing old cars. While it still has the most important cars from the original Larz Anderson Auto Collection, some cars are no longer there. These include a 1905 Walter Tractor, a 1910 American Underslung, a 1917 Ford Model T Estate Wagon, and many others.
