Featured Exhibit
Otto Kuhler Exhibit
Born in 1894, Otto Kuhler immigrated to the United States in 1923 from Germany. His family's roots in the steel forging industry seemed to give him a natural affinity for the machined-works of the steel industry and for rail locomotives in particular.
Arriving in the U.S. he settled in Pittsburgh and at first made his way as an artist depicting the steel mills and heavy industry there. His consuming interests in the railway soon led him to promote his ideas of clean and streamlined locomotive design that became popular in the post-depression era. He opened an office in New York and his designs for the Baltimore & Ohio second edition of the Royal Blue, the Lehigh Valley's Asa Packer, John Wilkes and Black Diamond, as well as The Milwaukee Road 1939 third edition Art Deco Hiawatha, among others, have alone earned him a place in rail history.
After marrying his beloved Simonne in Germany, Kuhler and his wife immigrated to the United States in 1923. As WWII marked the decline in passenger rail traffic, the Kuhlers continued to move westward. They uprooted themselves from the East Coast and bought a ranch just west of Denver, where they tended to the day-to-day concerns of ranch life and Kuhler painted images of the Colorado narrow gauge trains that reminded him of the trains he had known in Germany in his youth.
The Otto Kuhler Exhibit opened in June 2010 and includes many examples of his spectacular work.
