WALCOTT, Iowa — The Iowa 80 Trucking Musem just north of the Iowa 80 Truck Stop officially opens Thursday.
A ribbon cutting is scheduled for 2 p.m., during Iowa 80’s annual Truckers Jamboree that continues Friday.
A 15,000-square-foot museum was already in place, but it was open by appointment only. A 5,000-square-foot welcome center was incorporated with the groundbreaking a year ago.
Delia Meier, executive vice president of the museum, says there is a natural curiosity about driving the big rigs that will bring in audiences.
The museum has 40 different trucks out of the 100-plus in a collection owned by the truck stop. Meier said the trucks will be rotated in and out several times a year.
Meier’s late father, Iowa 80 founder Bill Moon, talked about a truck museum as he developed his collection over the years, she said.
“The timing was right. We felt like we really wanted to do it,” she added. “We finally got the truck stop remodeling done a few years ago and started in on this.”
The Walcott attraction is one among a very limited number of museums honoring trucking. An Internet search found only one other, the Golden Age of Trucking Museum in Middlebury, Conn.
The design of the visitors center was done by the same architect who supervised the remodeling of the truck stop, billed as the largest facility of its kind in the world.
Its design mirrors the art-deco style of the 1930s through the ‘50s, and its signage is reminiscent of gas station signs from the past.
The visitors center includes a miniature movie theater, where trucking-based movies will play until an original welcoming film can be produced. Movies and songs about trucks are part of the museum, as is a visual exhibit on the changing looks of gas stations throughout the years. Vintage gas pumps and petroleum signs — not re-creations, Meier is quick to point out — are found throughout the building.
Trucks on display include a 1910 Avery that was nicknamed a “Trucktor,” a combination tractor and farm wagon with separate bucket seats for the driver (including a steering wheel on the opposite side) and a passenger.
There’s also a vintage, electric-powered milk truck with peeling paint that roamed the streets of Chicago, what is believed to be the only restored Velie truck (which was manufactured in Moline), a 1925 Kenworth and a 1949 Kenworth, which shows many of the current trademarks of the truck brand.