Monday, February 22, 2016

Suburbia at the Minnesota History Center


About a week ago, we spent an afternoon over at the Minnesota History Center. They have an exhibit going on until March 20, 2016 called Suburbia. It goes over the big housing boom that happened here in the first ring of suburbs in the 50's. I just wanted to share some photos that I took while we were there and strongly encourage anyone that is interested not to miss it.



A portion of the exhibit was dedicated to building materials. A lot of the information went over how many of the materials at that time changed to create more efficient ways of building.


They had a great stack of building plans laid out that you could look through. We searched for our floor plan, but did't find it. These plans where from 1953 and our home was built in 1951 and is much smaller than most/all of the plans that where there.


They had a home layout with some great details from the time period that included appliances and other general home items. Those curtains below are exactly like something my grandmother would have put together.



I was not thrilled with the living room area. I think they could have done a lot better. At the same time, I didn't live through that era and it may be spot on. I think my favorite part is the carpet and it's really making me rethink what I might want for our living room.


There were a lot of other great things in this exhibit, but it was so busy, it was hard to get photos without a bunch of people being in them.

Besides the Suburbia exhibit, Minnesota's Greatest Generation, a permanent exhibit, is also filled with some great mid century treasures.


What's not great about that? Neon sign. Fantastic car in a fantastic color. I really should know what the car is, but I don't... No matter what it is, I think I would look pretty cool driving around down in it! And it would look fantastic in my driveway... And now that I think about it, it almost matches my house...


This was a much smaller example of a home at the time. It spun around from the kitchen (above) to the living room. While still really interesting, it's not interactive like the Suburbia exhibit.


This candy machine... we have decided we need one for our home! Now we just need to find one...

There were so many great things and to see it all, you just really need to go check it out yourself!