A small town museum gets its biggest donation yet - quite literally.
Big Artififact
Down in a town called Humble, Texas, there's a small but very unique place called the Humble Museum that houses some pretty amazing pieces of history. Recently, Robert Meaux and his wife Katie helped expand it by adding the biggest such artifact to date that fits in with that collection perfectly - a 1927 Model T Ford replica of an Humble ISD school bus, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Photos: Houston Chronicle
Monumental Effort
The Model T bus is so big, in fact, that the Humble Museum had to close down for a few days to make room for it. Meaux - the museum’s curator and board president - oversaw that effort along with his wife, taking a long weekend to squeeze the cool artifact into the small museum.
Photos: Houston Chronicle
Forging Relationships
The vintage bus was donated by Alton Hues, who is a graduate of Humble High School and a longtime philanthropist. Hues became good friends with Allan Griffin - recording secretary of the museum board - when they worked together on the Humble High School Alumni Association.
Photos: Houston Chronicle
Rough Beginnings
Hues originally intended to purchase a 1950s-style bus to donate to the museum, but it was simply too large to fit in the building. Thus, he instead opted for this 1927 Model T, which he then refurbished after it was found in a collapsed shed.
Photos: Humble Museum
Rebuilding Process
"The chassis was originally a truck with a bus body on it, but it wasn’t like the way I wanted it," Hues said. "We sandblasted the chassis, painted it, and went to work on the motor and got it running. We used wood from trees on my property. We sawed it, planed it, and put it on the bus according to the photos and my mom’s memory."
Photos: Humble Museum
Quick Process
Altogether, it only took around two months to bring this old Model T back to life, thanks to his Hues' mother's vivid memories of riding in one. "My mom had described it to me as having no windows but the chicken wire to keep kids from putting their hands outside," he said. "I was told that sometimes the kids would have to push the bus out of the mud when it got stuck. Sometimes, if they didn’t want to go to school, they’d just push it off the road into the ditch further."
Photos: Humble Museum
Total Overhaul
Those that want to check out this very cool artifact can do so for free, as the Humble Museum doesn't charge admission and runs solely off donations. And thanks to some big recent ones, there's more reason than ever to pay it a visit. "These additions have really changed the look of the museum making it much more interesting for people to come out and see this stuff," Meaux said.
Photos: Humble Museum
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