America is awesome. In the true sense of the word. It is awe-inspiring, extremely impressive, and fills many with great admiration. Where better to see the beauty of America than in one of the many quirky museums throughout this country. And would you have guessed that one of the best is in a small town of Oaks outside Philadelphia? It is called American Treasure Tour Museum and it contains all nostalgic American-made exhibits and oddities that make America what it is.
"It is a popular culture museum with stuff from 1890s to current times," Virginia Frey, director of the museum, says. Frey says that the owner started collecting autos and eventually moved into all things mechanical. All in all, there is 100,000 square feet of stuff packed into the museum, which is in an old BF Goodrich tire factory. "People like the history of the place itself and we happen to have one of the fire engines that Goodrich used in their factory," Frey says. She explains that though they only use 100,000 sq. ft., there is actually over 1 million sq. ft. of space in the factory. The tire company had its own fleet of fire engines which moved throughout the building to put out small fires here and there and administered first aid.
Luckily, one does not have to walk the whole perimeter of the building to take in the thousands of objects in the museum. "We have a tram that takes visitors through about 75,000 square feet," Frey says, "So you can take pictures and sit down and hear some of the interesting snippets about the objects in the museum." The remainder of the museum is self-guided and is called the "music room." The music room consists of mechanical music devices and mechanisms. "We have a lot of Nickelodeons," Frey says.
Rare Violano-Virtuoso display at the American Treasure Tour Museum. [Photo/American Treasure Tour Museum]
Nickelodeons are a variant of the player piano, though they are electric. "Player pianos came out earlier and are pumped. Our Nickelodeons are electric, though the way they mechanically play is similar." Nickelodeons are truly an interesting invention and have to be seen to be believed. Luckily, American Treasure Tour Museum plays and maintains them so visitors get to hear the real thing. The interesting thing about Nickelodeons as opposed to player pianos is that there are often other instruments involved in the music making. "We have one called the Mills Violano-Virtuoso that has two real violins playing along with the piano," Frey says. "There is another from 1916 made by Wurlitzer that has a light on top that is like a spinning peacock tail." She explains that a machine like that cost $5,000 back when it was made, which is more than the cost of a house at the time.
Nickelodeons were not made for the home. Like many great inventions, they were made for marketing purposes. Smoke shops, bars, restaurants, hotels, and more would use the Nickelodeons from the late 1800s to the 1920s to lure in potential customers. "Back then, music wasn't a big part of daily life in America because radios and phonographs were too expensive for the average person," Frey says, "So when people heard music, they got curious."
Also in the music room is a large collection of miniatures. "We bought a collection of miniatures from a local art teacher named Bob Omrod," Frey explains. On the website, it explains that Omrod made a lot of his miniatures from self-discovered objects in his life. It says, "The school’s custodial staff, when cleaning, would put aside found objects they thought might be of use to Omrod in what they called 'Bobby Bags.'” Omrod's collection can be seen in the movies Aliens, Dune, andThe Wizard of Oz. "We also have an RCA storefront miniature and a pretty big miniature general store, complete with fabric on the shelves and little grocery potato bins, and much more details to see," Frey says.
Another huge draw is the car collection. “We have a 1909 Sears and Roebuck Motorbuggy, an early 1900s ABC car, which is one of 3 known to exist; a Stanley Steamer; and a 1924 Cadillac,” Frey notes. They also have more modern cars like one of the first Corvettes from 1954, a 1968 440 Dodge Coronet, and other classics on display.
Many folks who come to visit are wowed and inspired by the collection. As mentioned, it even has modern objects that the owner finds interesting. “We have some Dora the Explorer memorabilia and Nintendo branded signs and items,” Frey recalls. She explains that the owner agreed to open the Pennsylvania museum only after the commitment from Frey and her husband to keep him anonymous. “He has many spotters who give him ideas of what to buy and it really just depends on his mood of the day. My husband and I spot for him and send him things and we really don’t know if he’ll say to buy it or not,” Frey explains.
To her, the partnership has worked well so far and she hopes to continue slowly offering more tours and gaining exposure through word of mouth. It has only been open for public tours for 2 years, though they have had private group tours for the past 9 years. “We were getting zoning issues worked out and, now that it is, we get a lot of folks from all over,” Frey says. Folks seem to be responding well to it, too. One user on Google notes, “The sonian may be America’s attic, but the American Treasure Tour is America’s awesome basement - filled with oodles of amazing, rare and utterly unique stuff!” And that’s an appropriate assessment. A place where you are not quite sure what you are looking at sometimes, but you know it is something sentimental, nostalgic, and very, very American.