Elwood Haynes
Museum
The Elwood Haynes Museum is housed in the former
mansion of Elwood Haynes, the inventor that was credited with
being the first to produce automobiles commercially in 1894, who
also invented stainless steel and stellite, becoming a
millionaire in 1916 and buying the mansion in Kokomo, Indiana
the same year. The mansion would be sold to General Motors by
March Haynes, that planned on using the structure as a residence
for traveling executives for a number of years, and then in
1965, it sold it to Bernice Haynes that donated it to the city.
It opened as a museum in 1967, and the curators have been able
to collect many of the Haynes original inventions so that they
can showcase them in the museum. There are various exhibits,
with one about the life of Haynes, and the house is located
right across the street in a private laboratory, which has since
become a private residence and therefore cannot be toured at
this time. His company, the Haynes Automobile Company produced
cars in Kokomo from 1905 to 1924 and related to the
Haynes-Apperson company also made cars from 1895 to 1905, and
the co-founder of that company, Elwood would change the name
after Elmer and Edgar Apperson left the company to start their
own called Apperson Automobile company. Just before he went out
of business, in 1923, Elwood made the 57, that had a 121 inch
wheelbase, in five-seat, four-door sedan, three-seat coupelet
and two-seat roadster that was advertised with front and rear
bumpers, six disc wheels, sun visors, wind wings, individual
fenders and artistically fashioned individual steps for the
running boards.
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