Institution description
The Stanley Museum is a hands-on history museum exploring the dynamics of Yankee ingenuity and the American experience through telling the special story of the remarkable Stanley Family, known best as the makers of the Stanley Steam Car. Founded in 1981, the Stanley Museum occupies an authentic turn-of-the-century schoolhouse located in their hometown of Kingfield in the picturesque Western Mountains of Maine. Exhibits explore the Stanleys’ firm belief in the importance of education and community engagement, their love of photography, music and the arts, and their triumphs in sports and engineering. Special rotating exhibits highlight unique aspects of Stanley history, and a new major exhibit on Kingfield’s Civil War History is planned as part of the Stanley Museum’s involvement in the Maine Civil War Trail coming in 2013.
For over thirty years the Stanley Museum has considered its functional survivors of America’s automotive past to be living history exhibits, and the Museum’s cars are frequently fired up and run on tours and special events.
The Stanley Museum is open year-round, Tuesday through Friday from 1:00-4:00 pm (also weekends July-Oct.) and by appointment.
