The National Museum of Transportation: Our History

The National Museum of Transportation: Our History. . , In 1944, St. Louis physician Dr. John Payne Roberts took action after learning a local transit company was sending a streetcar to a war-effort scrap drive. Fearing a piece of history would be lost, Roberts connected with other like-minded citizens to rescue the streetcar, the mule-drawn Bellefontaine #33 , and founded the St. Louis Railway Historical Society. Once incorporated, the organization began collecting similar vehicles important to transportation history. By 1948, the organization changed its name to the Transport Museum Association (TMA) when it became a nonprofit organization. , The TMA chose this campus, presently 42 acres though originally much larger, because of the land's significance in Missouri railroad history. The original Barrett Station depot was located here on land developed by the Pacific Railway. The West Barretts Tunnel, also located on campus, was the first railroad tunnel built west of the Mississippi River. , With land secured, the organization collected hundreds of significant artifacts including rail and road vehicles, aircraft, and watercraft. In 1979, the TMA became a St. Louis County park while the nonprofit entity continued to operate in support. In 2017, the Museum returned to independent nonprofit management, changing its name once again to the National Museum of Transportation to better reflect the importance and significance of its collection.