"The Walker Collection" Highlights New England's Links to the Industry

It's amazing what you can find on a day-trip. Just striking out north of Boston, you can find many things, such as museums that highlight this region's maritime past, and collections that also highlight its rather large stake in the auto industry.

For example, not only does the City of Beverly, Massachusetts, about 45 minutes north of Boston, depending on traffic, have museums that highlight this region's unique contributions to fishing and whaling, but you will also find one of the largest collections of automotive paraphernalia at the Beverly Historical Society, "The Walker Transportation Collection."

A collection of more than 5,000 photos, miniatures, models and other auto-related items, "The Walker Transportation Collection" is the result of more than 40 years of work by volunteers at the museum. It has been termed a "labor of love."

Housed in and maintained by the volunteers of the Beverly Historical Society, Curator Dave Fletcher has termed "The Walker Collection" "...the only collection of its kind anywhere. It is even bigger than what the Smithsonian has in terms of showing transportation in New England."

That is a very large gauntlet to be thrown down by the curator of a local historical society, but it is also likely to be very correct because few people give the very real ties between New England (especially Massachusetts) and the auto industry much thought.

Yet, "The Walker Transportation Collection" details that association in many ways. For example, the collection contains:

• 5,000 unique auto-related photos
• Photos of diners
• Photos of gas stations
• Photos that even document Boston's first "Big Dig, the Southeast Expressway, which was to become the heart of a major urban road system whose construction was halted in mid-stream, so to speak.
• Gems such as its collection of Ford miniatures and die-cast models made by the Franklin and Danbury Mints (examples of cars -- from a different collection -- accompany this article)
• License plates
• Car models given out by dealerships as promotions

  "The Walker Transportation Collection" provides support for a study conducted some years ago for "Old Cars Weekly." This multi-part study showed that since the marriage of the Otto Cycle engine and car there have been more than 230 or more automotive manufacturers located in New England, the bulk of them in Massachusetts.

  Some of the manufacturers are well-known marques such as the Franklin or Bay State. Even Rolls-Royce maintained manufacturing facilities here and for 10 years in the 1920s products its Silver Phantom in Springfield, MA.

  If there is an area of the country that could literally be called the "birthplace of the auto industry" it is really New England. It is a bold statement to make, but the Old Cars Weekly study, completed in 1981, indicates this is very true.

  Here are some other indications of the ties between New England and the auto industry:

• The Duryea Brothers Shay was built and driven around the streets of Springfield in the mid-1890s. The three-wheeled tiller car made use of a side-pusher piston-mounted engine and is one of the first mass-produced U.S. cars.
• The Waltham Buckboard, that large wagon with the motor attached and no suspension to mention. the Dodge Brothers were actually part of its design team and later on its board.
• The first motorcycle fatality -- a steam-driven motorcycle wrapped itself around a tree on Boston Common as its owner/builder lost control.
• The first licensed woman driver in the country.
• The first woman fatality in the country (not exactly a highlight, but it still happened in 1899).

  "The Walker Transportation Collection," outlined in the current edition of Horizons, the publication of the American Automobile Assn. of Southern New England, is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and from 1-9 p.m. Wednesday. Admission is $5.

  It might be a good idea to call ahead, if you are planning a visit, to make sure you won't be disappointed. Their number is (978) 922-1186 or you can visit their website www.walkertrans.org.

  AAA Horizons noted that "The Walker Transportation Collection" has been the result of more than 40 years of development by volunteers.

  The publications calls it "...a labor or love for the men who keep the collection impeccably organized." This means that if you ask "...to see something in particular...your request can usually be met in a matter of minutes."

  (As an aside, there are or have been other major automotive collections in New England. For instance, a major collection has been located at the Brookline, Massachusetts' Larz Anderson Museum for more than 50 years. It occupied the Carriage House. And there's the collection of cars, that includes a "Barney Oldfield 1909 Monocle Winshield Racer" and other special marques, at The Heritage Plantation in Sandwich, MA on the Cape.)
  sources: Old Cars Weekly, AAA Horizons, Society of Automotive Historians