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You are here: Home / Focus / SACRED GROUND INDIAN MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM IN SPRINGFIELD
SACRED GROUND <br><small>INDIAN MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM IN SPRINGFIELD</small>

SACRED GROUND
INDIAN MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM IN SPRINGFIELD

11 July 2025 par imrgadmin Leave a Comment

For Indian Motorcycle enthusiasts who not only like to ride current production bikes, but are also interested in the brand's historical heritage, a pilgrimage to the town of Springfield, Massachusetts, is a must at least once in a lifetime.

Text and photos: Charlie Lecach

Here you can visit a superb museum tracing the history of the automaker founded in 1901! There are no fewer than 34 towns in the United States named after Springfield. Even Homer and Marge Simpson live in one of them. But there's only one Springfield in Massachusetts, and it's the birthplace of the Indian Motocycle brand - without an “R” for the first chapter of its existence. This is where we're heading to retrace the steps of its past, which are immediately obvious on arrival.

By 1928, Indian Motorcycle was thinking of moving into car production, but never got beyond the prototype stage, discouraged by the stock market crash of 1929.

The place with the largest number of restaurants here is none other than the gigantic MGM Casino, in front of which stands the former “State Armory” erected in 1895. And on one of its red-brick facades, a mural clearly shows the color: a huge Indian Scout 101, whose realization was financed by the local concessionaire, indicates that we are in Indian Motorcycle territory! The dealership houses a respectable collection of vintage models, relatively modest in comparison to the museum we're about to visit.

On the ground floor, several vintage automobiles are directly linked to Springfield's history. Also on display, usually for the first time in its life, is a rare Millitor motorcycle with sidecar. A four-cylinder with wooden “artillery” wheels built by the Sinclair Motors Corporation, just a few miles away.
On the second floor, the Indian Motorcycle tour begins with a tribute to the brand's two founders. Before entering the motorcycle industry, George M. Hendee had been the USA's greatest cycling champion from 1882 to 1886. He rode a big two-wheeler like the one on display here, which is genuinely one of his own.

There's also a fine collection of the medals Hendee won in these races, which later led him to become a bike manufacturer and launch his “Silver King” brand. It was when he met Carl Oscar Hedstrom that the two joined forces to found Indian Motorcycle. The museum features a wooden box containing some 200 of his precision tools. He was so attached to them that each piece is engraved with his name or initials. Although motorcycle production began in 1901, the oldest in the museum is a 1906 model with its classic “Camelback” tank, which was Hedstrom's personal motorcycle.

Like almost all the others, this machine was donated to the city of Springfield by Esta K. Manthos and was the starting point for the creation of the museum. In another display case are bricks from the oldest part of the Indian Motorcycle factory on State Street, demolished in 1985, as well as an ornamental element from its façade, and an industrial suspension light made of copper and cast iron.

Some of the medals won by George Hendee.
Parts of the facade of the section of the former Indian factory that was demolished in 1985.
The transport case for this boardtracker is probably even rarer than the single-cylinder OHV Indian boardtracker from 1912!
The Indian Motocycle Co. also tried to diversify by building superb outboard motors, but the economic ‘Great Depression’ killed off this project too.
The old racing jumper belonged to Henry Ruggeri, a hillclimb racer living in Springfield.
The club uniform, a trophy and a few other items that belonged to Louise Scherbyn, an ‘Indian Lady’ in the 1930s.

There are many other objects in the Indian Motorcycle saga, but our eye is immediately drawn to a 1912 single-cylinder overhead-valve boardtracker, accompanied by its extremely rare wooden carrying case. There are apparently only two of these crates left in the world, the other being at the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. The Indian Motorcycle chronology continues with a 1913 V-Twin, followed by a Model-O, a rare little 257cc longitudinal flat twin built between 1917 and 1919.

The rest of the production range is also very well represented, with a fine selection of Scouts, Chiefs, Indian Four, Arrow, Scout and Warrior vertical singles and twins, racers and even a prototype roadster from 1928. The entire exhibition is punctuated by richly illustrated explanatory wall panels, as well as numerous other display cases containing a variety of treasures: tools, oil cans, racing jumpers, cups and trophies, vintage toys, cut-out engines and much more, tracing the rich history of the oldest American motorbike manufacturer to produce on an industrial scale.

In any case, a visit to Springfield should end with a quick tour of the old buildings in State Street and Wilbraham Road, which served as the Indian Motocycle Company's original factory and have now been converted into 199 social housing units. The only motorcycle on display is a 1951 Chief Roadmaster, enthroned on a podium in the reception lobby, surrounded by numerous photos summarising the rich past of this building...

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