Kenosha, WI: Kenosha History Center

Kenosha, Wisconsin certainly has a lot of incredible history to tell, and that's all accomplished at the Kenosha History Center on the shores of Lake Michigan in downtown Kenosha.  This FREE museum covers the important role Kenosha has played in the American automotive industry, to its prominence in the evolution of firefighting, to the development of Kenosha from a small settlement to a thriving modern city.  It offered a fascinating introduction to our amazing visit to Kenosha!

The Kenosha History Center

Regular readers will know that I like to visit local history museums at the beginning of a visit to a new place as they offer the best way to get acclimated with the culture and historical significance of everything I am about to experience.  The Kenosha History Center did just that, and did so with modern galleries that kept my interest for over two hours!

Inside the Kenosha History Center

I started with the Rambler Legacy Gallery, the largest of the museum, and the one that highlights Kenosha's relationship with the automobile.  The Thomas B. Jeffrey Company started it all back in 1902 until the company was sold to Nash Motors in 1916, and later combined it with the Hudson Motor Car Company creating what is widely known as the American Motors Corporation (AMC) in 1957 (ironically lead by George Romney, former Presidential candidate Mitt's father).  Their most famous car was the Rambler, featured throughout the museum.   

The automobile industry has played a significant role in Kenosha

The centerpieces of this gallery are a series of rotating cars (they change periodically, keeping the museum fresh) that all have historical and now financial significance.  I was particularly intrigued by the 1971 AMX Prototype as it was declared "A Most Spectacular Failure" even though it appeared to be an impressive car (probably shows what I know about cars)!

"A Most Spectacular Failure" but looks pretty cool to me!

Outlining the center gallery were several storefronts which were actually replicas of early Kenosha buildings of significance, such as a fire station, dentist office, and Texaco station.  Inside that 1930's era Texaco station is a 1917 Jeffrey Model 671, one of the first automobiles to offer a front engine rather than a rear, and it was the last of the famous Jeffrey line of cars but the first of the Nash.

1917 Jeffrey Model 671

Next was one of the original Jeffrey cars, a 1902 Rambler Model C which actually set the stage for a steering wheel in automobiles & a front engine.  Models A & B (both prototypes that were never sold) featured those elements, ultimately deemed "too radical" for the time and scrapped until later models.  The Model C had a "traditional" rear engine and no steering wheel.

1902 Rambler Model C

All of the Jeffrey, Nash, and later AMC automobiles were manufactured in Kenosha and even after several later mergers & acquisitions (ultimately to Chrysler) Kenosha hosted automotive industries for several more decades.  In addition to the automobile Kenosha is also noted for its prominent role in the development of fire fighting equipment through one of its famous residents, Peter Pirsch.

Pirsch & Sons fire equipment

Pirsch founded Pirsch & Sons, one of the original and most successful fire equipment manufactures in American history.  Pirsch built fire engines, ladder trucks, and a variety of fire fighting equipment for nearly 60 years in Kenosha.  Ironically their first motorized firetruck used a Rambler engine!

Yesteryear Gallery

The next large gallery I visited was the Yesteryear Gallery; here Kenosha's evolution from a small settlement to a modern city is told through a series of storefront recreations that reminded me a lot of the Patee House Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri.  I always find these recreation-type galleries intriguing - I suppose I am more of a visual learner, and these offer an great way to see what life was like in an earlier time period.

Schoolhouse in the Yesteryear Gallery

bloodletting?  Yikes!

The Yesteryear Gallery featured a blacksmith, school, general store, and a barber shop amongst several other typical storefronts of early Kenosha.  The barbershop in particular was interesting - I finally learned why the barber's pole is red and white (due to bloodletting, an archaic practice I had never heard of before)...one of those bits of trivia I never thought about before I learned it in a history museum!

I certainly enjoy history museum's like the Kenosha History Center; those that offer a unique and one-of-a-kind story with information that I have not seen or read about elsewhere.  The museum also provided a solid overview of Kenosha and set the stage for all the other museums & sites I would see over the coming days. Especially for the price (FREE!) I'd highly recommend a visit!