Mott's Miniatures Museum is one of the most famous of its kind in the world. It began back in 1911 as a collection of the Mott house in Iowa. It all started when eight-year-old Allegra Mott (Mitchell) found a diminutive toy in the box of Cracker Jack that she had purchased from the local store.
She started a love affair with the small toys and started swapping her candy to other kids for their small toys. She soon had two shoeboxes full of Cracker Jack toys. After marrying DeWitt Mott, it was not long before Allegra shared her passion of miniatures with him and he was soon carving his own sets of small toys.
Dollhouse Families
DeWitt was soon creating diminutive replicas of furniture owned by the family, so Allegra had something she could display alongside her tiny collection of Cracker Jack toys. She soon got weary of having to keep dusting the collection and asked her husband to originate some type of cabinet she could house them in. However, she wanted it to have a glass cover so the miniatures were still visible. Instead, DeWitt built her a recreation of an actual cabin he had spotted close to Lake Okoboji, Iowa.
This became known as the 1850s "Eastern Cabin" and it was regarded as first diminutive display created. Just about all of the museum's wood furniture, houses, and buildings in the Mott's Museum was carved by DeWitt's hands with just a pocket knife along with some sandpaper. By the time the 1940s rolled around, the Motts had a collection of several diminutive toy displays in their living room. The local Parent teacher association soon heard of the makeshift museum that was on display in their home and they asked if they could take classes of school children to the house to view them and learn some American history at the same time. The Motts did not turn anybody down and Allegra would often conduct tours of the premises all afternoon long as well as early evening.
The Motts soon garnered some publicity from the media, and following an interview by a Time-Life magazine reporter, they moved west to California. The house located in the Farmers shop section of Los Angeles and shortly after found themselves featured on television, as well as in magazines and local newspapers. The Motts were talked to by Walter Knott in 1957. Knott operated a small amusement located at Orange County, California and he realized how popular the Motts and their miniatures displays were. He then asked the house to display their features in his park. Their museum was opened in 1958 at Knott's Berry Farm and was situated there for more than 34 years. While that period, millions of visitors utilized the chance to enjoy the Mott's Miniatures Museum each year.
However, in 1992, the new owners of the park ended the ageement with the museum. The house then turned down several offers from the park to buy the museum and was reopened in 1996.When it reopened the Motts combined the museum with a sell shop. However, the museum was complete down in 1997 and the exhibits were auctioned off the following year. The sell store is still in performance and is located at 2471 E. Orangethorpe Avenue, Fullerton, California. For more data you should visit their website.
The spellbinding Story of Mott's Miniatures Museum
