The Miamisburg History Center
open Wednesday and Saturday from 1:00pm to 4:00pm and by appointment
- for Upcoming Historical Society Events, click here
QR-coded Items on Display
QR003: Rumsey Fire Hand Pumper
QR006: Enterprise Carriage Co.
QR007: 1917 Overland automobile
QR008:
QR009: Tobacco Co-Op Indian
QR010:
QR011: Ed Haney Wood Carvings
QR012:
QR013:
QR014: Barry Foundry
QR015: Victorian furniture
QR016: Postal Customer Counter
QR017:
QR018: Richard C. Church, Jr.
QR019: Miamisburg Alumni Assn.
QR020: 1907 Hatfield
Acme Boats
QR001
Acme folding boats were the brainchild of William R. Gamble, Jr. He started the manufacturing adventure in 1890 at 619 Pike Street, near Mound Avenue, a block or two from his home on Linden Avenue. Gamble was born and lived as a bachelor his entire life in the house his father built in the mid-1800s. This beautiful residence is now the Gebhart-Schmidt-Parramore Funeral Home at the corner of Fifth Street.
In 1891, Gamble expanded the business by hiring David H. Allen, an 1879 graduate of Miamisburg High School and the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. Allen brought a theoretical and practical knowledge of the mechanical arts to benefit the Acme enterprise.
Acme folding boats and canoes received highest honors at the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893 and at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition (commonly known as the St. Louis World’s Fair). The boats were also featured in an 1895 Montgomery Ward catalog.
Acme shipped throughout the United States and other parts of the world including Europe and Asia. Our Acme collection includes photos of the folding boats and canoes on waterways as far away as Australia. There is even a testimonial from a Russian count extolling his admiration for his Acme canvas boat.
An administrator from a museum in British Columbia needed background information for an Acme boat display and contacted the Miamisburg Historical Society. He reported that a recent expedition to the Yukon had explored the remains of a prospector’s camp from the “gold fever” era between 1896 and 1899. The expedition found pieces of at least 30 Acme folding boats.
1895 Montgomery Ward advertisement
The final location of the Acme Folding Boat Company was at 432 E. Pearl Street, in the narrow building next to the railroad crossing. Russell Nelson Shade, the last owner from about 1942 to 1976, continued the boat company as well as the Kenwood Products Company during the late 1950s. Acme Boat produced wooden boats for pleasure, fishing, and racing. Kenwood Products manufactured small wood wedges used for electric transformers and electric motor armatures. Kenwood Products also made bobsleds out of red oak and wooden step ladders. The ladders had four legs on casters and when you stepped on the first step, the front two legs would compress down to the floor to hold it in place.
David Shade, son of Russell Nelson Shade donated some of his father’s tools, the safe, the tool cabinet and items from his workshop to construct this Acme exhibit.
HAM Radio/R.L. Drake
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The R.L. Drake company, founded in 1943, made Miamisburg’s name familiar to amateur radio operators across the United States and around the world.
Starting with the compact Drake 1A in 1957, they advanced to a 2A and 2B and created a TR-3 in 1963. The transceiver (transmitter and receiver) concept was a success and the 1965 TR-4 series was perhaps one of the finest tube style radios ever manufactured.
As technology improved, the Drake TR-7 solid state used transistors rather than tubes in 1978.
R.L. Drake manufactured radios in several locations including Longworth Street in Dayton, the Baum Opera House (in 1953), 540 Richard Street (in 1958), and Franklin, Ohio. The company manufactured home satellite receivers starting in 1981.
Rumsey Fire Hand Pumper
QR 003
This 1850 Rumsey hand pumper was built by Rumsey and Company, Ltd., of Seneca Falls, New York. The pumper required several men on each side to operate the handles. In the days before fire hydrants, firemen pumped water out of cisterns along the streets through the rubber hose atop the machine.
In 1948, a fire apparatus salesman from the Sutphen & Son Columbus Fire Equipment and Jobbers Company talked to members of the Miamisburg Fire Department about buying the Rumsey, then located in New Knoxville, Ohio. It was complete except for the deck-mounted nozzle. The four firemen—Bill Exline, Ray Stomps, Leo Fortney, and Herman Miller—paid cash for it and arranged for delivery to Miamisburg.
Today, the Rumsey Tub Pumper—a gift from the Miamisburg Retired Firefighters Association—is in very good condition, looks beautiful, and still works. It has been fully restored and is on display in the History Center.
Warrick Sleigh
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This 1800s one-horse sleigh, known as an “Albany Cutter,” has quite a history. It originally belonged to John H. Recher (1831-1911), who handed it down to his son, Ira M. Recher (1871-1955). In 1945, Ira gave the one-horse sleigh to his 14-year-old grandson, John E. Warrick. It has been in the family for some 160 years.
John remembered riding in the sleigh as a boy in the 1930s. His father, Henry Warrick, hitched up their farm horse, Ned, to the sleigh and off they went across the snowy fields in Jefferson Township. After it fell into disrepair, John had the sleigh stabilized and partially refurbished. It was used as a Christmas decoration in the Warrick’s front yard for several years until it was eventually put into storage.
John wanted the sleigh to be preserved and admired by our city’s young people, so in 2012, John and Diane Warrick donated this beautiful sleigh to our Historical Society. It now resides safely at the Miamisburg History Center where it can be admired by all who visit, and revered for the elegant mode of transportation that it was.
1909 Advance Auto
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This unusual automobile may be the only Advance motor car in the world. It was discovered on a remote ranch in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains. Made right here in Miamisburg in 1908, it was shipped by rail to California, where primitive roads made the car difficult to drive. Within a few years, it was wheeled into a barn to be forgotten for almost a century. The harsh atmosphere in that desert location caused no deterioration from rot or rust. Usually a “barn find” is in very bad shape, with many parts missing, but not this one.
The Kauffman Buggy Company made bodies and chassis for Hatfield autos. Financial problems caused Hatfield Motor Vehicle Company to merge with Kauffman, forming the Advance Motor Vehicle Company. Charles Hatfield left town just ahead of creditors in 1908. The Kauffman Company bought the Hatfield shop and made significant changes to the vehicle in the steering and front suspension, creating a more attractive automobile. They were desperate to make and sell the Advance, but no one was buying buggies anymore. This vehicle on display was probably a prototype.
Thinking that they were adding a Miamisburg-made Hatfield automobile to the Historical Society collection, members collected private donations, and brought the vehicle back home, only to find it was not a Hatfield, but a one-of-a-kind Advance!
Enterprise Buggy
QR006
This horse drawn carriage was manufactured in Miamisburg at the Enterprise Carriage Manufacturing Company on East Pearl Street. Locating to Miamisburg from Cincinnati in the early 1890s, the factory encompassed over 136,000 square feet of floor space, was four stories tall, and employed 300-350 men. At one time, the factory had the capacity to build 25,000 vehicles a year, considered to be one of the most complete carriage plants in the country.
Early in the 20th century, the carriage business declined as the popularity of the automobile ramped up. During the 1913 flood, Enterprise Carriage sustained damage to their property from the high waters. Both of these factors sped the demise of this business which finally closed in 1918.
Enterprise had experimented with building a prototype automobile, a roadster similar to the Stutz Bearcat, but unfortunately the car was destroyed in an accident. No other cars were produced, making this the only car ever made in Miamisburg.
The Enterprise Carriage Company building was sold and, during World War I, the Wright Airplane Company of Dayton manufactured airplane parts there.
This 1909 Enterprise Buggy was donated to the Miamisburg Historical Society by the Hottle family in 2001 and has been a part of our local parades to celebrate the important events in Miamisburg.
Zink Enterprise Buggy
Before the turn of the century, this vintage carriage was built by the Enterprise Carriage Company in Miamisburg. Around 1950, Cyril Zink spotted it in the rafters of an old barn.
The carriage was painted blue with black trim by Uncle Frank Belvo with new upholstery provided by Herb Shade in the 1950s. Carroll Zink later changed the blue paint to red. In 2020, the carriage was completely repainted, with new leather seats and rubber wheels added by skilled Amish craftsmen.
This carriage has been used in numerous parades and exhibits for over 60 years and recently was shown during the Miamisburg Bicentennial in 2018.
On loan to the Miamisburg Historical Society by Carroll Zink and family