Detroit 2014 I (7/27/2014)

Sunday, July 27, 2014
Kent had business in the Detroit, MI area, so we drove the 2-1/2 hours to Dearborn and first visited the Henry Ford Museum.

Henry Ford statue

The museum is in a complex called The Henry Ford, and today there was a special event at the museum that increased the price by $10!
The Maker Faire, in collaboration with Make Magazine, is sort of a tech-influenced DIY (Do It Yourself) festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness for inventors, hobbyists, students, or anyone. Model rockets were being launched on the front lawn of the museum.
The front parking lots was completely covered with tents and exhibits. We received a pair of geek glasses and could put our choice of tape around the bridge.

A power sander race vehicle

Power Tool Drag Race

T-shirt message

Robotic candy dispenser
(you could choose which Hersheys bite-size bar you wanted)

"Time Machine"

"Time Machine"

Cupcake vehicle

Flaming Skeeball

Life-size Mousetrap

Henry Ford Museum building (1929)
designed by architect Robert O Derrick

The Museum was designed to resemble Independence Hall in Philadelphia, but with an open floor plan to showcase the museum items.
You might think the Henry Ford Museum would be about Henry Ford, rather it was built to house Henry Ford's collections including tangible evidence of America’s pre- and early industrial history, starting with items associated with his friend, Thomas A Edison. There are also watches and clocks with which Henry Ford loved to tinker.
The Driving America section took up nearly one third of the building.

Chesapeake & Ohio H-8 “Allegheny” Steam Locomotive #1601,
2-6-6-6 Type, Lima Locomotive Works, 1941

Scattered throughout the museum were more Maker Faire activities, such as model railroads.

Porky Pig and Petunia are manning the hand car

1923 Canadian Pacific snowplow

1975 FMC Motorcoach used by Charles Kuralt

for his "On the Road" television show

1961 Lincoln Continental 4-door convertible
used by President John F Kennedy

Child car seats through the ages

There was a section on Heroes of the Sky with mostly replica airplanes.
The With Liberty and Justice for All section had some surprising items.

George Washington slept here (his camp bed and chest)

Plaster cast of Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Ford Theater seat in which
President Abraham Lincoln was shot

The bus where Rosa Parks made her stand
by remaining seated rather than give her place to a white man

The Made in America sections, both Power and Manufacturing, displayed machinery galore.

The Your Place in Time section showed mostly furniture and toys from the 1890s to the 1980s.

The Museum Gallery now contains the Dymaxion House.

Dymaxion House designed by Richard Buckminster Fuller

A large section of Agriculture machinery, and finally the Fully Furnished section with a miscellaneous collection.

Writing desk of Edgar Allen Poe

There were also small collections of clocks and jewelry.
Next Detroit 2014 II.