Welcome to IIAH.  My name is John Schroeder.

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We are motivated by a quote from Theo Jansen “The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds”

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The technology we enjoy today, is an extension of our scientific & industrial heritage.  Our mission is to help you experience this heritage and enjoy it as both engineering and art.

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This virtual tour is designed to lead you through the outdoor parts of the museum exhibits starting and ending with our world-famous ice cream by Austin Sharpe. 

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Bar codes are posed on top of the turquoise post with links to demonstration videos. 

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The driveway and circle also provide a great test track for our motor vehicles.

 

From here you will first stop at the Patenaude Pavilion with our 1930s midget races the TNT Special; and 1920s speedster.  Next you will see our 1941 Buick “Fireball” special and gas station.  After that is a walk through of our larger hit-miss and air engines.  Steam activities are concentrated on the pond side of the facility.  These include multiple marine engines and boilers; a moderate size steam machine shop engine; our boiler house with Boiler Smith boiler and associated equipment as well as larger steam whistles; our steam tugboat Rosie and finally the live steam 3.75” gauge passenger locomotive. 

 

Along the way you will see various exhibits of our industrial heritage.  Also please note the many photographs printed from our collection of magic lantern slides.

 

Finally, The IIAH has a large collection of items stored indoors in the IIAH archives and viewing center.  These include mechanical toys, model working engines, a large collection of glass slides and other imagery and our library.  We are unable to have that open during our outdoor events.  A representative sample of items is in the outside viewing center.

 

Please enjoy our exhibits for both their importance to our industrial development and as works of art.

 

The IIAH is a 503.1 approved charity.  Any donations you may make will be greatly appreciated.