Investments in gold silver and copper mines plus vast landholdings in the American west allowed the Haggin family to build a fortune worth $10,000,000 in 1929. Three generations of the family collected art which was donated to the museum – 240 pieces in all. In addition to the art the museum also has history exhibits – a town street with displays that can viewed through the shop windows, a Caterpillar Tractor invented by local businessman Benjamin Holt to operate in the soft, thick soil of the San Joaquin Valley, a jeep bought in 1943 by local high school students to support the war effort (they eventually raised enough money to buy 275 jeeps!), and the blood stained trunk where Emma LaDoux stuffed her husband after she murdered him. The museum sits in a little park with a rose garden at the north end of the building.
The museum is accessible. Follow the signs to the door with a push button intercom. An elevator provides access to all of the floors but it’s very small. We were assured that power wheel chairs and scooters will fit. I think it would require a lot of wiggling.
The museum does not have a public parking lot but there are plenty of free parking spaces on the streets.
Museum 37.96104, -121.31263
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