Mifflinburg Buggy Museum

Mifflinburg is the historic seat of American buggy manufacturing. Buggies, or carts designed to be pulled by horses, with covered areas for passengers and cargo varied widely in utility and design. Just like with cars, some models were the Cadillacs of their time with  comfortable seating areas large enough for families, while “courting buggies” were more akin to convertibles: two spare seats and an open top.  

Mifflinburg was established by German immigrants to Pennsylvania, who brought old-world craftsmanship and manufacturing techniques in wood and metalworking. In 1845, the Mifflinburger George Swentzel founded the town’s first buggy manufacturing facility, which built these vehicles with the labor of a small team of coachmakers. At the time, horses were the best (and often only) way to travel distances too long for walking, and buggies made travel in groups or with cargo accessible.   

Swentzel’s original coach-making studio spawned younger buggy makers, who learned the trade in apprenticeships and carried on the work when Swentzel left the area to head west. It cannot be overstated how central buggy making was to the local economy in the 1880s. For a time, the town’s population of 800 included 13 buggy makers who collectively produced hundreds of coaches and sleighs each month. 

The buggy business was good until passenger cars came on the market in the early 1900s. With sales flagging, business owners like the trio who founded the Mifflinburg Buggy Company found themselves needing to diversify. Enter the Mifflinburg Body and Gear Company, which was established alongside the buggy making operation in the same space to produce car and truck bodies for American companies including Chevrolet and Ford.

The company managed to stay afloat through most of the Depression by further expanding into furniture manufacturing. But eventually the business shuttered due to bankruptcy, leaving its tools and facilities to gather dust. 

It was not until 1978 that its doors would reopen, thanks to a nonprofit organization established to preserve the history of the site. The structures and grounds were restored by a team made up mostly of volunteers, and a visitor center was created to share the rich history of the industrial craft of buggy making in Mifflinburg.