April 2024
Phoenix Airport Museum Installs New Exhibit at Rental Car Center
The Phoenix Airport Museum opened a new exhibition in the central Rental Car Center hallway chronicling Phoenix’s transportation history. Hooves, Wheels and Wings presents historic photographs and information about the City’s past and present modes of transportation.
Moving people and goods from one place to another faster and more efficiently has always been a pursuit. Phoenix is no exception since the first horse-drawn carriages plied its streets in the mid-1800s. The ensuing decades to the early twentieth century witnessed the rapid development of transportation technologies including the replacement of animal power with machine power.
Persistent invention and innovation have always contributed to the creation of new modes of transportation. Phoenix’s mule-drawn streetcars of the late 1800s evolved into an electric trolley system. The gasoline-powered horseless carriage, or automobile, became a quicker way to get around than on a horse or bicycle. For longer journeys, the steam-powered iron horse, or locomotive, has given way to air travel for speed and convenience.
The modern marvels of Phoenix’s past were the forerunners of Valley Metro Rail, PHX SkyTrain® and self-driving cars of today. They all provide faster, convenient, and more dependable ways to move people from here to there.
Transit systems are designed to make life easier for everyone as they move from one place to another. They are foundations on which cities became more livable and prosperous and open paths for better ideas yet to come. Take a ride through Phoenix’s transportation history to see how Hooves, Wheels and Wings have put our City in Motion.