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The Mercer Museum is a National Historic Landmark located in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, archeologist Henry Chapman Mercer began collecting the pre-industrial hand tools and implements of the past. Mercer believed that the story of human progress and accomplishments was told by the tools and objects that people used, and saw these time-honored crafts slowly disappearing from memory.
Made out of poured-in-place concrete, the Museum was completed in 1916 to house vast collection of early American objects and artifacts. It contains displays the furnishings of early America, plus a whaleboat, carriages, stove plates, a gallows, antique fire engines, and the Lenape Stone. It also houses the Spruance Library on its third floor.
[edit] Why concrete?
The Museum is one of three poured-in-place concrete structures built by Mercer. The others include Fonthill, which served as his home; and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, both of which are located approximately one mile away. Mercer decided to build with concrete after the Great Boston Fire of 1872 destroyed his aunt's prized collection of medieval armor, which had been stored in wooden structures. He did not want his own collections to suffer the same fate. Locals mocked his choice of building materials, but on completion of the museum he lit a bonfire on its roof to prove that it was fireproof[1].
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