America's love affair with the automobile began in the early 1900s.  But it took inexpensive, plentiful gasoline to transform desire into reality. Enter petroleum pioneers such as Louis Blaustein, whose American Oil Company grew from two horse-drawn delivery wagons into the Amoco Corporation. Together with his entrepreneurial family, Blaustein also helped bring Texas-based Crown Central Petroleum to Baltimore, where it became one of the nation's largest independent integrated oil companies.

Opening on February 23, Fueling the Automobile Age is an original exhibition that explores how the products and innovations of these two local oil companies helped fuel America's automobile age--and encourages visitors to consider what technologies and innovations will fuel the next transportation age. 

"As a museum exploring the industries of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, we're excited to show how o ne Baltimore family made an historic impact on car cu lture, while we also consider how the current demand for electric cars, ride-share services, and public transit shapes a n ew era in how we use transportation," says  Anita Kassof, the museum's executive d irector. 

The exhibition looks at America's dependence on cars, growing from just 8,000 registered vehicles in 1900, to 26 million in 1930, to more than 270 million today.  Plenty of hands-on opportunities for visitors are integrated into the gallery, including exploring a 1953 Packard sedan, playing the part of gas station attendants, and envisioning what cars of the future will look like.    

This exhibition is mad e possible through the generosity of the Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation, Atapco, and Lord Baltimore Capital, with additiona l support from Clark Brands LLC and McGuireWoods LLP.

Cardin, pictured in the Print Shop, joined the BMI in January.