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Thrasher Carriage Museum (Visit this link)

The Thrasher Carriage Museum, one of the top collections of horse-drawn
vehicles, represents every walk of life from the milkman to the wealthy.
Pleasure vehicles, funeral wagons, sleighs, carts, and more are on display in
the renovated 19th century warehouse.



Guides and interpretive signs offer a glimpse into the world of the elegant
traveler. Stories of the clothing, activities, and lifestyles of Victorian
Americans are interspersed with the fascinating details of these remarkable
vehicles.



Accessories of early travel (hitches, saddles, bearskin lap robes, charcoal foot
warmers, and lanterns) are all housed in the 1800s warehouse as part of the
museum exhibit.



Travel to a time when craftsmen practiced the art of carriage making. Imagine
riding in a formal carriage or the Vanderbilt family sleigh. Transportation
history is only a short drive away to the Thrasher Carriage Museum.



This remarkable collection of horse-drawn vehicles was once the private
collection of James Richard Thrasher. Mr. Thrasher (or Jim as he was known to
friends and family) was born in Midland, Maryland in 1913. He was the oldest son
in a family of eight boys and three girls.



Jim’s family settled permanently in the Midland area where his father was a
blacksmith. Throughout his childhood, Jim was constantly around horses at the
“smithy”. His love of horses developed early since he was not only surrounded by
horses at the “smithy” but also because the Thrasher family owned several.



After completing the eighth grade at the Midland School, Jim quit school and
went to work for the Llewellyn Brothers’ Dairy, where he started out capping the
glass milk bottles. He worked in the milk processing plant for the next seven
years.



At the age of 21, Jim left the dairy business to take advantage of a job
opportunity offered to him by a friend. He left Midland to go to Somerset,
Pennsylvania to work in a coal mining operation. During the next few years, Jim
worked in both the deep mines and strip mines.



Having “learned the ropes” in Pennsylvania, Jim returned to Midland before World
War II and continued to work in the mining industry. About this time, Jim
acquired one of his first carriages. A banker and friend in Lonaconing, Alex
Sloan, gave him an Extension Front Brougham in appreciation for a loan that Jim
had extended to the bank during the Depression. After the war, Mr. Thrasher
became involved in additional business interests including the construction
industry.



By the early 1950s James Thrasher was recognized as a successful businessman and
was well respected in Allegany County. He was also an excellent father, and was
busy raising three girls and two boys on a farm near Midland.



Although Jim accumulated several hundred horse-drawn vehicles over the years, it
was not until his children were mostly grown that he began to avidly collect
carriages. During the next thirty years of his life he traveled all over the
United States in order to purchase carriages from private collections, auctions,
and estate sales. Mr. Thrasher was a well-known figure in the carriage
community.



Not only did James Thrasher collect and restore these carriages, he also had a
keen interest in driving them, thus preserving a forgotten way of life. Many
Allegany County residents fondly remember that Jim never missed a parade to
exhibit a piece in his collection. Jim was an avid owner of registered Morgan
horses and it was not uncommon to see him with his favorite Morgans driving one
of these vehicles down the road between Midland and Lonaconing. In addition,
several of these vehicles have “claims to fame” having been used in movies or to
carry government dignitaries.



In 1975, Mr. Thrasher leased the Midland School from the county and opened a
museum to showcase the carriages and carriage accessories he had amassed. The
museum remained open until 1987 when James Thrasher passed away. Upon his death,
Allegany County government purchased the collection from his estate, thus
keeping it intact. Chosen for its proximity to other tourist attractions, the
current museum site in Frostburg was opened at the Depot Center in 1991.