Henry’s Attic: Some Fascinating Gifts to Henry Ford and His Museum

5 Touring Vehicles and Highway Icons

CHAPTER 5 Touring Vehicles and Highway Icons CDN RECENT YEARS, the Henry Ford Museum has acquired a number of objects pertaining to the history of recreational travel. Among these objects are a variety of camping vehicles, a tollbooth, a gas station, a tourist cabin, and advertising signs ranging from small, painted "Burma Shave" boards to the huge single arch of an early McDonald's and the flashing neon lights of a Holiday Inn—the "cultural icons" of twentieth-century America. Although part of living memory, many of these reminders of the sights and sounds associated with touring America by automobile have already disappeared from the roadsides . As the years go on, their nostalgic value can only increase. These items are all part of a large, permanent display installed in the museum in 1987 to illustrate the history of the automobile and its impact on American life. The exhibit, entitled "TheAutomobile in American Life," demonstrates not only the development of the automobile but also the roadside amenities that arose to cater to the motorist. A scene from "The Automobile in American Life" display 143 Tollgate Sign Dating from about 1875, this tollgate sign is certainly one object in the Henry Ford Museum's collection of touring items that is not part of living memory. It was donated to the museum by C.B.Titus of Rochester, Michigan, in 1937. The sign sets forth the fines for avoiding tolls and the "rates of tolls" imposed by "an Act of the Legislature of Michigan," approved "Feb. 9th, 1853." It was posted on the main road to Chicago, about five miles west of Detroit and less than three miles from Henry Ford's birthplace. Another tollgate was located three miles farther east, and another three miles to the west. Early toll roads in Michigan were built by private individuals,who recouped the expense of the construction by collecting the tolls. Very often, however, they spent nothing on maintenance, and as a result, the roads became all but impassable, but the owners collected the tolls nonetheless. The roads were frequently made of planks laid lengthwise. In 1926, noting that "if there was ever a road hard to travel on, it was a plank road out of repair," Clyde M. Ford of Dearborn recalled what happened to the property of one plank-road owner in the area: The Plymouth Road . . . continued to get worse with the toll going on just the same, until there were no planks in sight, only mud; and the end of the collecting toll came one night when a rope was put around the old house which served as the keeper's quarters for the toll gate, and there were plenty of strong arms and backs on hand to pull the thing over. Later, a company was formed of the Fords and others, . . . and they built a new gravel road and maintained it by each drawing a certain number of loads of gravel per year. This continued until the County took over the road in 1910. Ace. 37.176.1. Neg. B.27340. 144 HENRY'S ATTIC Tollbooth from the Menritt Parkway Ace. 88.238.1. Neg. B.103633.5. When Connecticut opened the Merritt Arpaia, Chapman, Inc., of Branford, Connecticut, Parkway in 1937, the road was toll-free. A few years later, the state imposed tolls and installed temporary booths. In the early 1950s, those booths were replaced with ones of a unified design, and the booth shown here was installed at that time. Blakeslee, donated the tollbooth to the Henry Ford Museum in 1988. It has since been restored and erected in the museum's exhibit on the "Automobile in American Life." TOURING VEHICLES ANDHIGHWAYICONS 145 "Gilkie" Camp Trailer Camp trailers became very popular during the late 1920s. E.P. Gilkinson & Sons of Terre Haute, Indiana, manufactured this high-quality model, known as the "Gilkie," about 1921. The Gilkie's tent folded down into a box mounted on a two-wheel trailer. Ann Bauduc of New Orleans donated the Gilkie in memory of her late husband to the Henry Ford Museum in 1987. Shown here on display in the museum with camp chairs and picnic gear, it has a 1929 Ontario license plate and a sign reading "Camp Wahoo." Ace. 86.128.1. Neg. B.102863. 146 HENRY'S ATTIC Motor Home of 1923 This was one...