LATROBE, Pa. -- The Lincoln Highway Experience Museum is hosting a special grand opening event for its new temporary exhibit, “Fred Duesenberg’s Final Journey” on Thursday, Aug. 1 from 5 – 7 p.m.

The new exhibit will tell the amazing story of Fred Duesenberg’s rise to prominence as an automobile engineer and designer in the early twentieth century and his automobile accident near Laughlintown, PA which sent him to the hospital where he later died.

“The Duesenberg accident is an incredible and often overlooked page in the history of Western Pennsylvania” said Spencer Simpson, manager of visitor services at the Lincoln Highway Experience Museum. “Not only is it an important part of automobile history, it’s a fascinating part of Lincoln Highway history as well, and even locals familiar with the story will get a clearer picture of what really happened from the new exhibit.”

The new exhibit was made possible in large part due to a recent partnership between the Lincoln Highway Experience Museum and Somerset County author Ray Wotkowski, who published a book telling the story of the accident based on his research and interviews with firsthand witnesses. The exhibit name, Fred Duesenberg’s Final Journey, is borrowed from the title of Wotkowski’s book.

“Ray presented his research as one of our Lincoln Highway Talk lecturers last year and has expressed his desire to see an exhibit on this topic here at the Lincoln Highway Experience,” says Simpson. “When the gallery space opened up this spring, my first thought was to call Ray and ask if he would partner with us to design the exhibit. All the information comes from his research, and he even loaned us his personal collection of model Duesenbergs.”

The cost for admission is $5 per person, free for Lincoln Highway Experience Members. Cookies, coffee, and hors d’oeuvres will be provided to visitors at no extra cost. Ray Wotkowski will be signing copies of his book which is available in the Lincoln Highway Experience gift shop.

For more information, contact Spencer Simpson, Manager of Visitor Services at the Lincoln Highway Experience Museum at spencer@LHHC.org or 724-879-4241. 

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The Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor is a nonprofit organization that identifies, conserves, promotes, and interprets the cultural, historical, natural, recreational, and economic resources along the 200-mile Lincoln Highway in Westmoreland, Somerset, Bedford, Fulton, Franklin and Adams counties in Pennsylvania. For more information, visit www.LHHC.org.