Personal, Public & Commercial Transportation

Wilbur and Orville Wright established their first bicycle shop in 1892. They started building their own bikes in 1896. Van Cleve bicycles -- named for Wright family ancestors -- used high-grade materials, and they featured special oil-retaining wheel hubs and coaster brakes of the brothers' own design. The Wrights built each bike to order, hand-making parts with basic tools.

Learn more about personal transportation by reading From the Curators: Transportation - Past, Present and Future, available at http://www.thehenryford.org/education/erb/TransportationPastPresentAndFuture.pdf

The stagecoach is a symbol of the American West, but its origins are in New England. First built in the 1820s, Concord coaches featured an innovative leather-strap suspension that produced a rocking motion over rough roads -- easier on passengers and horses alike. This example carried passengers and mail in New Hampshire and Maine before the automobile made it obsolete.

This 1858 Rogers steam locomotive is typical of those used in the United States in the second half of the 19th century. Its flexible wheel arrangement, high power output, and light weight were well suited to the tight curves, steep grades, and hastily constructed track that characterized American railroads. This locomotive struck an agreeable balance between practicality, safety, and economy.

Inside this bus on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a soft-spoken African-American seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man, breaking existing segregation laws. The flawless character and quiet strength she exhibited successfully ignited action in others. For this, many believe Rosa Parks's act was the event that sparked the Civil Rights movement.