Swigart Museum

The Swigart Museum contains one of the earliest American Automobile Collections, and it is the oldest automobile museums in the United State. When you visit the museum you will learn about the historical significance of the automobile, while viewing our many displays, and our one-of-a-kind automobiles in our collection. Our automobile collection was started in 1920, just 25 years after the first patented combustion engine automobile. It was started as a private collection that was made available for public viewing during business hours at the Swigart Insurance Company. It was later registered as a separate automobile museum, which is still thriving today. The Swigart Museum collection has a total of 104 automobiles and carriages dating back to 1896. You can see between 30 to 35 automobiles on display each year at the museum. Because our collection is so vast, each year while the museum is closed over the winter, we change the displays to give everyone the opportunity to see more of our collections. We also have a featured display each year of one of our special automobiles in the center of the museum. When you visit you will experience more than just cars. The Swigart Museum features The excitement of early automobile racing and old cars is depicted in prints, paintings, and photographs from renowned automobile artists such as Ernest Montaut and Peter Helck. You will find a large collection of Jim Beam collector decanters on display on one of our beautiful antique display cases. In what is believed to be the largest collection of automobile emblems, badges, and license plates in the country, familiar labels from Ford, Packard, and Oldsmobile are displayed alongside the emblems of forgotten models. Car badges, a sign that the motorist belonged to an automobile club, are also on display. The license plate exhibit represents every state in the union and includes only a fraction of the plates in the museum's collection. This important collection of automobilia also includes automobile lamps and horns, hood ornaments, and other accessories that added to the pleasure of driving. One corner is devoted to a collection of vintage Fisher-Price toys, including classics such as the Snoopy Sniffer and the Corn Popper push toy. Everything from wooden pull toys offered during the company's first year (1931) to toys popular a decade ago brings to mind the pleasure of these childhood favorites.