Go Buggy

by Kathleen Walls

He was the Henry Ford of his day working in the "Detroit" of his era. Before the automobile became "King of the Road", buggies were the main form of transportation. Much like the vehicles of today, they ranged from sleek, shiny status symbols to sturdy work horses. William Heiss was one of the leading buggy manufacturers in a town known for buggy making. In its heyday, Miffinburg, Pennsylvania boasted seventy-five buggy makers. Like Detroit today, Miffinburg also had its "Big Three". Along with Heiss Buggy Works, there was Hopp Carriage Company, you will find the structure still standing on Walnut St., and the only one to convert to automobile construction, The Miffinburg Buggy Company, who for a time produced wooden truck bodies for Ford.

Because of the prosperity enjoyed during the buggy building heyday, the town has retained much of its Victorian charm. If you are an antique buff, you will want to visit The Old Lantern Antique and Mostly Collectibles. Main Street is also home to Endie's Country Store and Mary Koons Quilt Shop, which has been in business for over seventy years. For dining try the Scarlet D or the Carriage Corner.

With the decline of the industry, the Heiss factory was closed up and remained in the family. William's house was shut up shortly after his wife's death, in 1946. Although the house had been rented for a short time, much of the original furnishings remain as Anna left them. For years, the factory remained as if William had closed up the night before planning to open in the morning. Then in 1978, a group of citizens decided to celebrate the coach making history of Miffinburg. Recognizing the rare opportunity presented by the home and factory, they acquired them from William's elderly sons and began the work of transforming this workplace and residence into a museum.

When you step through the doors of William's home/office combination, you are transported into a life much slower paced than the present. William had come to the house with his mother, Catherine, and his sister, Lizzie, in 1872 upon the unexpected death of his father, Peter. At that time the house was only two years old.

His mother took in boarders to help make ends meet. When William married Anna Smith, she came to live in the house. Her parents and her unmarried sister also lived there. Along with her normal household chores, canning, pickling,quilted, embroidering, sewing her own clothes, cooking three meals a day for at least eight adults and two children, she worked in her husband's shop as a trimmer, one who stitched the tops and upholstered the seats. In her spare time, she also was an organist for the church, a midwife, a nurse practitioner and grew and sold herbs and sold medicines she purchased for resale. No one could have ever accused Anna of being lazy.

William wasn't a shirker either. Along with his new buggy manufacture operation, he did repairs and ran a livery operation. As the automobile replaced the horse drawn carriages, he ran a honey business, built furniture, sold McCormic reapers, tried renting bicycles and then motorcycles. He also had a mini farm behind the building.

However, his buggy building operation is William's greatest legacy to us in the twenty-first century. Here, you can observe the painstaking care in creating and assembling a classic vehicle of the nineteenth century. The actual factory, just behind the house, was built for another buggy manufacturer in 1882. William bought the building in 1889 and expanded it both front to back and side to side.

He built new buggies here until 1920. After that time he used it for the repair of existing buggies, making furniture and packing his honey. He also sold lumber and varnish and repainting automobiles

Factories of that time, were divided into four departments, a blacksmith shop, a wood shop, a paint shop and a trim shop. The forge occupies a place of honor in the front of the building. By William's time, most buggy parts, especially metal ones, were made by factories that specialized. What he did was order the parts and assembled them. Here you find a rare Hit and Miss Engine made by New Holland. It was considered very innovative in its day.

You ascend to the second floor to visit the paint and trim shop. Vehicles were driven up a ramp on the outside of the building into this area. Just like autos today, you purchased a basic model and added accessories. A basic "spring buggy" cost about $50 you added the features you choose.

William's carriage house is the only reproduction. It burned down in 1928 when William, working on his honey operation, left a soldering iron and went into the house. He stayed a bit too long and returned to find the building in flames. It was reconstructed in 1993. Here you will find typical vehicle William used in his livery business.

The other significant building is a three story building commissioned by William in 1895. He paid two men two buggies, about $150, to build it. He used the bottom and top floor for storage and the second floor was his showroom. He had the building painted yellow and red, the most popular colors of undercarriages as well as the least expensive. Here you will browse among the carefully preserved vehicles of another era. You can't help but wonder about the drivers of this earlier time. Did they long for more speed? Did they think their carriages were the ultimate in driving comfort? Certainly they couldn't envision the multi-horsepowered automobiles of today as they flicked buggy whips above the flanks of their sleek steeds in an effort to gain an added modicum of speed.

You can visualize the impact of the buggy on Miffinburg when you realize, between 1880 and 1920, the town of 1200 people turned out 4000 to 6000 buggies, sleighs and wagons a year. Miffinburg celebrates this heritage each year in May with its Buggy Day Festival. The festival shows off the only museum in the country housed in an original carriage factory with original tools and furnishings.

Guests are treated to a blacksmith demonstration, quilting, spinning and weaving and other crafts so vital to life in the nineteenth century. "Grandmother" will be on hand to entertain the young with her button games and crafts. Local school children will be displaying their original drawings of buggies or Miffinburg scenes. You will be able to vote for your choice in each category. Winners will receive $100 savings bond and the grand winner will be used in the next Buggy Day Festival.

Food, crafts and fun await you there. So go to Miffinburg, park your "horseless carriage" and take a ride in a "surrey with the fringe on top"

Directions: Miffinburg is 10 miles from I-80 Lewisburg/Milton exit.
The museum is located at 523 Green St.
Admission: $5 adults $2 children 7-17
Events: Buggy Day Festival held in May
Cristkindl Market, a German outdoor Christmas Market in Dec.
Contact: www.lycoming.org/buggy buggymus@csrlink