|
Feb 26
What is the Wheels Museum
& why is the RCA March 3 fundraiser for them?
Wheels Museum Executive Director Leba
& Rotarian Tom Sims
Leba Freed has been recognized by the Albuquerque Historical Society with an Albuquerque History Accolade for her efforts over two decades to preserve Albuquerque’s historic railyards and for creating a museum that honors the nation’s history of transportation.
Leba Freed’s family is one of the mainstay families in Albuquerque’s history. Her father created Freed and Company which had a store on Central downtown for decades. Leba worked there as a child and became the owner/operator later in life. During these years, she rarely gave any notice to the abandoned buildings that were mostly home to pigeons in the 1990s. However, a visit there to the enormous structures caused her to envision turning these industrial Gothic spaces into a world-class museum of transportation. She imagined that the museum would showcase how all forms of transportation have contributed to the nation’s prosperity and the history of Albuquerque specifically. It would pay tribute to the men and women who built the buildings and worked there helping to move people and goods across the country.
WHEELS Museum is a 501(c)3 organization in the Albuquerque Rail Yards dedicated to collecting, preserving and creating educational exhibits about the history of transportation in Albuquerque and New Mexico with emphasis on the impact on the development of the area. Our collections embrace the history of the railroads, the impact of the rail yards on Albuquerque, as well as automobiles, horse and wagon, and other modes of transportation.
| 
