Founded by George M. Hendee and Carl Oscar Hedstrom, Indian Manufacturing Company produced motorcycles in Springfield from 1901 to 1953. The museum’s collection features more than two dozen motorcycles donated by Esta Manthos, co-founder and president of the former Indian Motocycle Museum which was located on Hendee Street in Springfield from 1974 to 2006.
Among the rarest Indians on view is the 1904 blue Indian designed and owned by Indian co-founder Hedstrom. When he left the company, he took this motorcycle with him, and it was later passed on to his granddaughter. Also featured are Indian racer and dealer Stanley Cornell’s unique 1912 board track cycle with its original board track racing tires; an entirely restored, operable 1929 101 Scout; and a 1927 hill-climber.
The collection also includes artifacts, memorabilia, and photographs highlighting production of Indian’s “everyman” and military motorcycles from the early years at the famous “Wigwam” through the final days of the downtown Springfield factory in 1953.
The late Charlie Manthos, a professional metallurgist and ardent Indian Motocycle collector, had an entrepreneurial vision of bringing a new, locally manufactured Indian Motocycle back into production. Working with two former Indian employees, Earl “Pop” Armstrong and design engineer Jimmie Hill, he created a prototype based on the 1953 Indian Chief, the last of the original Indian production line. He hoped to take it to market in 1975 but his dream was never realized.
Manthos became a lifelong enthusiast for the Springfield-made cycles when he rode his first Indian as a young man in the 1930s. After decades of assembling a personal collection of Indian motorcycles and memorabilia he and his wife Esta opened their own Indian Motocycle Museum in 1974. Manthos passed away in 1996 at the age of 79. Knowing that Charlie wanted the Indian collection to stay intact and in Springfield, in 2007 Esta Manthos made a generous gift of the collection to the Springfield Museums.
