This museum is housed in a turn of the century church partially made with stone used as ballast from Peary’s 1892 expedition to the Arctic.

Since the early 1700’s, application of machines to production (Industrial Revolution) has resulted in increase in wealth of individuals and nations. Early power for machines came from windmills and water wheels. The number of windmill and water wheel sites are limited and not portable. Innovation in steam engines expanded available power sources. By the late 1800’s and early 1900’s steam powered engines were being applied to locomotives and ships. A robust steam engine and shipbuilding industry developed in Camden and Philadelphia and other locations along the Delaware River.