National Museum of Industrial History facts for kids
National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
|
|
| Established | 2016 |
|---|---|
| Location | 602 East 2nd Street, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Type | Historical museum |
The National Museum of Industrial History, also called NMIH, is a cool museum in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It's located in an old building that used to be part of Bethlehem Steel. This museum works with the Smithsonian Institution to show how America's industries grew. It has amazing collections of old machines and tools. You can learn about how things like cloth, steel, and propane gas were made.
The museum has many important machines. These machines are on loan from the National Museum of American History. The NMIH also has a huge collection of items from Bethlehem Steel. Bethlehem Steel was once one of the world's biggest steel companies.
The museum opened in August 2016. Its main goal is to connect America's industrial past with today's new ideas. It wants to teach people and inspire future inventors. The museum cost $7.5 million to build. It has four main exhibits. Each exhibit shows a different part of industrial history. These stories are important for both Pennsylvania and the whole country. The museum helps you see how machines worked and what life was like for workers long ago.
Contents
Discovering America's Industrial Past
The National Museum of Industrial History opened its doors in August 2016. It is located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The museum's main goal is to show how America's industries grew. It also wants to inspire young people to think about new inventions.
The museum is inside an old Bethlehem Steel factory building. This building has been updated many times. The steel mill stopped working in 1995. Bethlehem Steel was once the biggest shipbuilder in the country. It was also the second-largest steel maker.
Each exhibit at the museum tells a story. These stories are about industrial history in Pennsylvania and the whole country. This museum is the first one to be connected with the Smithsonian Institution. The idea for the museum started in the 1990s. It took a while to open, but it finally did in 2016. In its first few years, the museum raised almost $17 million.
Amazing Exhibits to Explore
The museum has several exciting exhibits. They show different parts of America's industrial story.
Machinery Hall: Powering the Past
The Machinery Hall shows off old American industrial technology. Many of these machines were first seen at the 1876 Centennial International Exposition. This big fair happened in Philadelphia.
This exhibit has cool interactive displays. You can learn about Bethlehem Steel's history. It shows how the company became so important. You can also see where the steel was used. The exhibit also tells you about the workers. Many employees came from different European countries to work there.
Iron and Steel: The Heart of Industry
This part of the museum celebrates the history of Bethlehem Steel. The museum itself is built where Bethlehem Steel used to be. This collection is always at the museum. Many items were given by Bethlehem Steel. It focuses on how the company made steel. This exhibit helps you understand what daily life was like for the workers. Bethlehem Steel employed 31,000 people at its busiest time.
You can see three models of Bethlehem Steel plants. These models were used to train workers. They also helped test new ideas for the factories. The exhibit also has the very first piece of steel made at the Bethlehem Steel mill. There is also a special anvil. An interactive map lets you see how far Bethlehem Steel's products reached across the United States.
Silk Gallery Hall: Women and Children at Work
While men worked at Bethlehem Steel, women and children worked at Lehigh Valley Silk Mills. These mills employed even more people than the steel industry in Bethlehem. The Silk Gallery tells the stories of these working women and children. This exhibit is always at the museum. It shows you how silk was made.
You can even try holding a 20-pound bobbin tray. Children used to carry these for hours in the silk factories. Other tools are also on display. You can see things like line shafts and looms.
Propane Gallery: A Fiery Discovery
The Propane Gallery focuses on the work of Walter O. Snelling. He was an American chemist from Allentown. He found out how to make propane from other chemicals. You can see items from Snelling's laboratory. There are also photos from his propane company, American Gasol Co. There is even an exhibit showing how propane was used during World War II.
Rotating Gallery: New Stories All the Time
The museum has a gallery that changes its exhibits. This gallery has 3-D printers. They are loaned to the museum by Lehigh University and Northampton Community College. The museum plans to have new exhibits often. For example, they celebrated the 75th anniversary of the "E" for Excellence Award. In 1941, the U.S. Navy gave this award to Bethlehem Steel. It was for making almost 38,000 ships for the war effort.
In May 2017, the museum opened a new exhibit called "Making America's Pastime." This exhibit showed how Major League Baseball equipment is made.
Amazing Artifacts to See
The museum has over 200 artifacts. The museum building itself is an artifact! It was built inside the old Steel plant's Electric Repair Shop from 1913. In the section about the 1876 World's Fair, you will see machines that were shown at that big event. These include huge engines and pumps from the 1800s and early 1900s.
Many of these machines went to the Smithsonian Museum after the World's Fair. But the Smithsonian has loaned several items to this museum in Bethlehem. The museum's executive director, Amy Hollander, said these objects tell big stories. Some are the first ever made, some worked the longest, and some were the very last produced. This includes the first piece of steel rolled in Bethlehem. It also includes the last piece of special armor made there.
The Machinery Hall has 21 artifacts from the Smithsonian Institution. These were once shown at the National Museum of American History. Items from the 1876 World's Fair are here. The biggest artifact is a giant 115-ton Corliss steam engine. This engine pumped water for York, PA, starting in 1914. The hall also has a large crane and an H-beam from Bethlehem Steel. Other items show what workers used. These include punch cards, hard hats, whistles, and safety reports.
The Silk Gallery Hall shows the history of the Lehigh Valley Silk industry. The most important artifact here is the Jacquard loom. This loom was used to make fabric for the White House for almost 80 years. It was used until Bill Clinton was president. A special piece of fabric made for John F. Kennedy is also in this exhibit.
In the Propane Gallery, a fun interactive display is a hot air balloon simulation. You can step into a hot air balloon basket. You learn how propane fuels these balloons. You also get a feeling of what a real hot air balloon ride is like. Glenn Koehler, the museum's marketing person, thinks this is the most popular interactive exhibit. Moving floorboards and aerial videos make it feel very real. The goal is to show how widely propane gas is used today.
Gallery
-
A steam drop forge at the museum
-
A hot air balloon interactive exhibit
-
The museum's entrance
-
Plant display
-
Jaquard loom
-
Baseball bat production
-
Baseball glove production
See also
