Porch Notes
The Gilmore Car Museum
History and culture
Out in the countryside at Hickory Corners is one of the great surprises of Barry County: the Gilmore Car Museum, which bills itself as the largest auto museum in North America. It began as one man’s hobby — Kalamazoo businessman Donald Gilmore, who restored a 1920 Pierce-Arrow at his home on nearby Gull Lake and kept collecting from there. His wife, Genevieve, suggested turning the collection into a museum, and it opened to the public in 1966.
Today it spreads across a 90-acre campus with more than 400 cars and motorcycles from every era of the automobile. Part of the fun is the setting: the collection is housed in big red barns and a cluster of re-created vintage buildings, including a working 1940s diner and a 1930s Shell gas station. Several smaller car-club museums share the grounds, and in the warm months you can even take a ride in a classic car. It’s an easy afternoon whether or not you’re a car person.
The Gilmore Car Museum is at 6865 W. Hickory Road, Hickory Corners; hours and events are at gilmorecarmuseum.org.