America on Wheels is an over-the-road transportation museum in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

. The museum offers over of exhibit space divided into three main galleries and several smaller exhibits. The museum houses rotating exhibits on the second floor. Also on the second floor is the HubCap Cafe, and a vehicle art gallery featuring the work of artists. The museum's collection features over 75 bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles and trucks in exhibits telling the story of people and products on the move from the days of the carriage to the vehicles of tomorrow. The museum also houses the archives of

Mack Truck Mack Trucks, Inc., is an American truck manufacturing company and a former manufacturer of buses and trolley buses. Founded in 1900 as the Mack Brothers Company, it manufactured its first truck in 1905 and adopted its present name in 1922. Mack ...

History

As early as 1989, Allentown city officials had announced plans to revitalize an old industrial area, which included the abandoned Arbogast & Bastian meat packing plant, along the

Lehigh River The Lehigh River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania. The river flows in a generally southward pat ...

. This redevelopment, which was to be known as "Lehigh Landing," was to include a museum, a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

, walking trails, a footbridge across the river, and a

promenade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

for festivals. Development was hindered by fundraising problems,

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issues, and even a national debate on

pork barrel ''Pork barrel'', or simply ''pork'', is a metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district. The usage originated in American English, and i ...

government spending. After three separate groundbreakings (2001, 2004 and 2005), the museum, which cost over $17 million to build, was officially opened to the public on April 12, 2008.

Collection and exhibits

1889 Nadig Gas-Powered Carriage

A historically important part of the museum's collection is the 1889 Nadig Gas-Powered Carriage, one of the first gas-powered vehicles driven in America. Henry Nadig, a German-born mechanic living in Allentown, built his gas-powered carriage in 1889, two years before Charles E. Duryea's first gas-powered automobile. Police forced him to drive the carriage at night, because during the day it scared horses. The vehicle was discovered rusting in a collapsed shed in Allentown, and restored.

General collection

The collection of the America on Wheels is minimal as the majority of the vehicles on display are on loan. The West Gallery changes every six months based on a new theme. A number of the vehicles are on loan from the Mack Truck Museum of Allentown PA.

References

External links