‘Made in Evansville’ exhibit showcases historic industrial expansion
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Examples of items produced in Evansville from the post-Civil War era to the onset of World War II are on display at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science.
The Made in Evansville exhibit, which runs through Nov. 24, gives an overview of the types of products that were manufactured by men, women and children in the city over a nearly 75-year span.
“You will see a variety of items that were literally made in Evansville during the period,” said Tom Lonnberg, the museum’s chief curator and curator of history. “One of the interesting things is a truck body that was made in Evansville that turned a Model T car into a truck.”
Visitors can view 19th and 20th century items plucked from the museum’s archives and loaned by four local collectors, including Keith Kinney who serves on the museum’s board of trustees.
“Between the Civil War and World War II, there was a lot of manufacturing that went on in Evansville, so we decided to focus on that period,” Kinney said.
Developing the concept
The idea for the industrial display stemmed from a meeting of the downtown museum’s history committee, which Kinney chairs.
“We have conceptual committees that are volunteer committees that are made up of community members from our Evansville area,” said Lonnberg. “I work with those committees to generate ideas for future exhibits.”
Once the Made in Evansville concept was defined, Lonnberg began the process of curating items for the exhibit.
“Tom set out to figure out, ‘What do we have in the permanent collection of the museum that would fit in that?’” Kinney said. “And then he asked some local collectors of things, myself being one of them, ‘What do you have that might fit with this concept?’”
Lonnberg visited Kinney’s home to take a tour of his collection and select products that would be suitable for the display.
“Thankfully, people like Keith and others are generous in lending things out. Otherwise, we couldn’t do things and share with the public,” Lonnberg said.
“That’s a lot of the fun of it,” added Kinney. “Getting to share your passion and your hobby with others.”
What’s in the exhibit
Kinney owns one of the main features in the exhibit: the truck body that transforms a Ford Model T car into a truck. The manufacturer, Hercules, was founded in Evansville in 1902 as a buggy maker and became one of the area’s largest employers until around 1930.
“[Hercules] billed itself as the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world. And they sold through Sears and Roebuck as well as their own dealer network. But they could see that automobiles were coming on strong, and buggy production was going to drop off. So they looked around to find something else to do,” said Kinney. “They made a conversion kit … you would just take the automobile body off and slide one of their bodies and you could turn it into a pickup truck.”
Other items that make up the Made in Evansville exhibit include pottery, furniture, stoves and a gas engine—also made by Hercules and loaned by Kinney.
“Sears was having trouble with the company that was manufacturing gas engines for them. So they took over the factory and then contacted William McCurdy, the owner of Hercules,” Kinney said. “He immediately set out to build a new factory in Evansville to build gas engines.”
Kinney said Hercules produced close to 400,000 economy engines over a couple of decades for Sears.
A small area of the exhibit also highlights cigar manufacturing and breweries in Evansville during the period.
“Fendrich Cigar was a big deal. They had thousands of cigars that were shipped across the country,” said Lonnberg. “And the brewing had a lot to do with the German heritage of our city.”
‘A sense of pride’
Kinney believes several factors contributed to Evansville industrial output compared to other cities during this period.
“Location was key. We were right here in the heart of the hardwood forest back in the day, so ready access to raw materials. And the other thing was the location on the Ohio River. Same as it is today, with the Port of Evansville, the Port of Mt. Vernon and the access to the world that that gives you,” said Kinney.
The city was also able to take advantage of a highly skilled labor pool in the region.
“There were a lot of immigrants here, so there was a ready workforce available. Some of the German workforce certainly had skills that were adaptable to what was being done here,” said Lonnberg.
Kinneys said the manufacturing boom in Evansville between 1865 and 1939 set up the region for continued growth.
“We were ready for World War II because we had a large manufacturing base that quickly converted to wartime effort and then the prosperity that came after the war,” said Kinney.
Since August, many visitors have passed through the museum’s Made in Evansville exhibit. Kinney has also given lectures on McCurdy and his success with Hercules in the city.
“The general public’s astounded that Keith’s truck is in our gallery, which is pretty interesting to see just as you enter,” said Lonnberg. “The response has been good. People are interested in seeing an example of the breadth of things that were made in Evansville.”
Lonnberg said the display highlights pieces of a historic puzzle that illustrate the evolution of the community.
“It’s important to recall where you’ve been as a city. A sense of pride is one part of it but also just the idea that we were able to have this manufacturing base, not only locally but regionally and certainly in other parts of the country. That this was something that was done here within the confines of our city during that earlier period and how that built to where we’re at today. Because without this phase of history, we don’t get to where Evansville is today,” Lonnberg said.