The American Treasure Tour is a tourist attraction established in 2010 and opened to the public for guided tours. Visitors travel through a large private collection that encompasses an eclectic variety of smaller collections. Included is one of the world's largest private collections of automatic music machines: nickelodeons, band organs, calliopes, photoplayers and

music box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'' ...

es. There are also classic cars, circus art, dolls and dollhouses, and a large assortment of popular culture miscellania. It is located in the 422 Business Center in the community of

Oaks, Pennsylvania Oaks is an unincorporated community located in Upper Providence Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The community is 18 miles (30 km) northwest of Philadelphia and its boundaries are defined in large part by the village's position at ...

, west of

Valley Forge National Historical Park Valley Forge National Historical Park is the site of the third winter encampment of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, taking place from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778. The National Park Service preserves the site a ...

just off of U.S. Route 422.

Background

The collection is located in Oaks, Pennsylvania, in a former B.F. Goodrich tire factory building. The factory was opened in 1937 and active in tire production until its closure in 1986, shortly before Goodrich sold their production line, and the name of their brand, to the Michelin Company. The former plant has since been completely re-purposed. The first floor of the building is currently used for commercial space, including such businesses as the Arnold's Family Fun Center. Most of the second floor, however, is the repository for the collection that comprises the American Treasure Tour. The building complex is 1.2 million square feet while the ATT comprises 100,000 square feet, about the size of a

big-box store A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The t ...

The Collection

The ATT has on display the private collection of one person, who remains anonymous at his request. The collection includes (but is not restricted to): carousel band organs, calliopes, nickelodeons (also known as orchestrions), movie posters and celebrity photographs, vinyl record albums (33-1/3, 48 and 78 speed), Edison cylinder players, antique and modern animated store displays, circus and clown art, pedal cars, model airplanes, and classic cars. A second element is the music box collection, on loan to the ATT by the Music Box Society International (MBSI), an organization of aficionados of automatic music. The ATT is the repository for over one hundred pieces from MBSI's extended collection. Many of these are on display and played for visitors. The MBSI has also utilized the ATT as a site for group meetings.

Layout

The tour consists of two parts: The Music Room, which is predominantly seated with mild walking and The Toy Box, which incorporates a tram ride.

The Music Room

The Music Room has record albums, movie posters and celebrity photographs covering the walls. Located in the room are a majority of the collection's nickelodeons, dolls, dollhouses, and photoplayers, as well as the MBSI music boxes. The guides use modern iPad technology to turn on selected nickelodeons and instructional videos for visitors. Tours include the playing of numerous machines and brief historical stories told by the guide about the era during which the machines were popular. There are over 150 automatic music machines on display in the Music Room. Highlights among them include: * Two Wurlitzer Harps - one in Style A, the other in Style B * Two Wurlitzer IX Electric Pianos (one of which is from the Paul Eakins collection, formerly the Gay 90's Village in St. Louis, and distinctive for its red keys) * The Wurlitzer LX adorned with a novel 'wonder light' affixed at its top * The Mills Violano-Virtuoso DeLuxe, constructed with two violins and an internal piano * Wurlitzer Mandolin PianOrchestra Style 12, dominated by a 'wonder light' shaped like a peacock and composed of 37 violin and violoncello pipes, a piano, and a percussion section * Sextrola Style B, one of the last machines produced by the North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works prior to its takeover by the Rand Company. * Seeburg Style C, which dates to the early 1910s, and the Style H, which is dominated by wooden statues named "Beauty" and "Strength.", * Seeburg Style R Pipe-Organ Orchestra Photo Player once complemented the silent films in a large theater, prior to the advent of sound on film. * D.C. Ramey Piano Company Banjo Orchestra - a newer machine designed to emulate older machines. DC Ramey Banjo Orchestra

* The music box collection includes examples from the Baker Company, Mira, Stella, Regina, Criterion, Capitol Cuff, and numerous others, all of which were produced in the United States and Europe around the turn of the 20th century. * Other nickelodeons on display include: Seeburg Style A, Style C, Style E, Style F, Style L, Celesta. Berry Wood AOHR, Style 15, Style F. Wurlitzer 88 Note, Style A, Style AX, Mandolin-Sextette, Style SA. * Also on display is a

Link Trainer The term Link Trainer, also known as the "Blue box" and "Pilot Trainer" is commonly used to refer to a series of flight simulators produced between the early 1930s and early 1950s by Link Aviation Devices, founded and headed by Ed Link, based o ...

, created by the Edwin Link Jr, which incorporated nickelodeon technology for an early flight simulator.

The Toy Box

The Toy Box takes up the majority of the space in the American Treasure Tour. Visitors are driven in an electric tram down lanes displayed with an eclectic collection of Americana on both sides and hanging from the ceiling. Tours are conducted by guides who discuss the items, including: model airplanes, classic cars, more automatic musical instruments, original artwork, movie memorabilia and Disneyana, stuffed animals, animated store displays, motorcycles, and neon signage. Highlights include: * Three of only 11 (possibly 12 or more) surviving Wurlitzer #165 band organs * The only known surviving Wurlitzer #175 band organ

* "The Mammoth" Wurlitzer Military Band Organ, also known as a

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

Style #160 * "The Emperor" Th. Mortier Dance Hall Organ * "Sadie Mae" Gavioli & Cie. band organ, formerly of the Paul Eakins collection * A giant shoe used for a promotion in Manhattan's Madison Square Park to promote the short-lived cable network

Wedding Central Wedding Central was a short-lived American digital cable television channel that focused on programming involving brides and weddings, which was a spin-off of the programming which made up much of WE tv's schedule at the network's launch on August ...

* One of

Eric Staller Eric Staller is an American artist born September 14, 1947. He uses light and architecture as a medium to create and design works of art. Biography Staller was born in 1947 in Mineola, New York; he is the oldest of five children. His father is a ...

's Conference Bikes * The 2009 Guinness Book of World Records-winning Popsicle Stick Structure - a castle created by one man * Many classic cars, such as a 1905 Franklin, two Sears Motorbuggies, two

Vespa 400 The Vespa 400 is a rear-engined microcar, produced by ACMA in Fourchambault, France, from 1957 until 1961 to the designs of the Italian Piaggio company. Three different versions were sold, the "Luxe" , "Tourisme" and "GT". Overview The car ma ...

automobiles, two 1956 Ford Thunderbirds, a 1954 Pennant Blue Corvette as well as more modern Corvettes, a 1922

Stanley Steamer The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was an American manufacturer of steam cars; it operated from 1902 to 1924. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers, although several different models were produced. Early history ...

, a 1924 Cadillac 7-seat sedan, a 1907 ABC, a 1914 Maxwell, a 1914 Liberty-Brush, a 1914 Woods Mobilette, a 1951 Crosley VC Hotshot, and over sixty others. 1922 Stanley Steamer

The anonymous owner of the collection that comprises the majority of the American Treasure Tour (sans the MBSI collection) continues to regularly bring in new pieces, which are incorporated into the tours whenever space allows.

References

External links

*Official Website: http://americantreasuretour.com/ *Atlas Obscura: http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/american-treasure-tour *Roadside America: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/33875 *Link Trainer: https://web.archive.org/web/20170606213135/https://www.link.com/about/pages/history.aspx {{authority control Tourist attractions in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Museums in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Musical instrument museums in the United States Circus museums in the United States Automobile museums in Pennsylvania Toy museums in the United States Doll museums 2010 establishments in Pennsylvania