Bucyrus Museum operated by South Milwaukee Industrial Museum

08/18/2026

A Piece of Bucyrus-Erie Picnic History! 🏭🌳

A big THANK YOU to the South Milwaukee Historical Society for their generous donation of these picnic badges to the Bucyrus Museum!

This donation gives us a wonderful glimpse into the social side of life at Bucyrus-Erie. The collection includes 1947 Bucyrus-Erie Employees’ Picnic badges for adults and children, along with a “Refreshment Ticket – Women Only” good for ice cream and soft drinks.

The picnic was held at Waukesha Beach on Saturday, August 30, 1947 - giving us a little snapshot of how Bucyrus-Erie employees and their families spent a summer day together 79 years ago.

It’s easy to focus on the enormous machines Bucyrus-Erie built, but pieces like these remind us that Bucyrus-Erie was also a community of people - employees, families, friends, and neighbors.

We’re proud to preserve these small but important pieces of South Milwaukee’s history and share them with future generations.

Thank you, South Milwaukee Historical Society, for helping us preserve the story of Bucyrus-Erie and the people who made it! ❤️

Come see this and many other Bucyrus-Erie picnic items!

📍 Bucyrus Museum
1919 12th Avenue
South Milwaukee, WI

🕙 Hours: 10 a.m.–3 p.m., Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays

08/06/2026

🚜 FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Rare Bucyrus-Ruth Excavator! 🚜

Ever heard of an 18-ton machine built just for cleaning ditches?

In 1939, Bucyrus-Erie acquired the rights to the "Ruth Dredger" and transformed it into the Bucyrus-Ruth (Model HU). This highly specialized machine was a beast at maintaining irrigation canals and drainage ditches, crawling along banks on tracks with variable-speed digging buckets.

Powered by a Caterpillar engine, it was a marvel of utility engineering. However, its specialized nature meant limited sales, and World War II shifted manufacturing priorities. Bucyrus-Erie did not include the Bucyus-Ruth in its post-war machine offerings.

Today, it stands as a fascinating, short-lived chapter in our deep history of earthmoving innovation.

📖 Artifact Spotlight: The brochure pictured below was generously donated to our collection by Cynthia L. in Colorado. Thank you, Cynthia, for helping us preserve this history!

📍 Visit us at the Bucyrus Museum here in South Milwaukee to discover more hidden gems of industrial history, view historic photos, and see how our local legacy shaped the world!

🕒 Museum Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays: 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.

07/14/2026

🤝❤️ A South Milwaukee Tradition: Library Storytime Returns to the Bucyrus Museum!

For the fourth consecutive year, the Bucyrus Museum was thrilled to host the South Milwaukee Public Library - Children's Department Storytime program! 📚🏗️ Stephanie Jurss, SMPL’s wonderful Children’s Librarian, brought her program to our space, where a great group of about 30 children enjoyed stories, interactive activities, singing, and exercises. 🎶👏

Following the program, the children and their chaperones explored the museum, tested their skills on the mining shovel simulator, and enjoyed our puzzles and sandbox. 🚜 Thanks to our dedicated docents, each child left with a bag of popcorn, coloring pages, crayons, Kind Ninja book, Bucyrus Museum kids helmet, stickers, Bucyrus Museum temporary tattoo, and a small toy! 🍿🪖🎨

We look forward to continuing this tradition next year! 🎈

📍 Bucyrus Museum: 1919 12th Avenue, South Milwaukee, WI
⏰ Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 10 AM to 3 PM
👋 Come visit us!

07/07/2026

Big news! The Bucyrus Museum was just featured in USA Today! 🇺🇸

From reshaping the Panama Canal to digging out America's foundational infrastructure, the machines engineered right here in South Milwaukee truly built modern history. We are incredibly honored to preserve this legacy, and we invite you to explore it with us every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

Read the full national feature article to see how Bucyrus innovation left a global footprint

Link in Comments📍

Come visit the history in person:
1919 12th Avenue
South Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s Bucyrus Museum tells the story of American manufacturing.

06/30/2026

Happy Semiquincentennial!

05/28/2026

Step back into circa 1930s with a look at one of the coolest optical pocket toys in our collection: The Mov-I-Graff! 🎰🎨

Known as "The Man of a Thousand Faces," this clever paper novelty was patented by the Lakewood Products Co. of Cleveland, Ohio. It features a cartoon face, but with a unique twist: the nose and mouth are made from a tiny, fine-linked metal chain! ⛓️🧐

By simply holding the card flat and tapping or vibrating it, the chain wiggles randomly to create countless funny, ever-changing expressions. Because they were so portable, businesses - such as the Bucyrus Company and the Marion Power Shovel Company customized them as promotional giveaways.

Check out the photos below to see how a simple chain could create endless entertainment long before smartphones! 📱✨

Come see them for yourself! The Bucyrus Museum is located at 1919 12th Avenue in South Milwaukee. Our hours are 10am-3pm Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

05/14/2026

We love seeing Bucyrus history continue to inspire new generations - even through music. 🎶

A new song titled “Iron Giant” by Jon Spear Music was released on April 24, 2026, inspired by the story of an Oklahoma ancestor who was listed on an old census form as a “steam shovel engineer.” That simple discovery led to a deep dive into the history of Bucyrus steam shovels and the enormous role these machines played in shaping America.

From digging the Panama Canal to building highways like Route 66 and countless other projects across the country, Bucyrus machines - and the people who operated them - helped move mountains, literally.

The artist, Jon Spear shared that the colorful stories and rich history behind these machines became the inspiration for the song. Even more impressive, he performed nearly all of the instruments himself, with Nashville session musicians contributing the mandolin and fiddle parts.

It’s always exciting to see the legacy of Bucyrus living on in unexpected ways. Be sure to check out “Iron Giant,” now available on major streaming platforms and YouTube worldwide! ⚙️🚂🎵

You can also listen to Iron Giant by clicking the link in the first comment below.

These photos are some of the Bucyrus machines referenced in "Iron Giant"

05/07/2026

We’ve reached 2,450 followers - thank you to everyone who’s joined us! 🎉

To celebrate, we’re spotlighting the Bucyrus-Erie 2450-R Over-the-Road Rotary Blast Hole Drill.

The Bucyrus-Erie 2450-R was introduced in the late 1970s as a high-performance rotary blast hole drill for the mining and quarry industries. While it shared the modular design heritage of the 2400-R series used in water well drilling, the 2450-R was purpose-built as a rotary drill for overburden applications or as a hammer drill for tough rock pe*******on in quarries.

Come visit us at the Bucyrus Museum, 1919 12th Avenue in South Milwaukee! We’re open Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 10 AM–3 PM.

04/28/2026

We’ve reached 2,400 followers - thank you to everyone who’s joined us! 🎉

To celebrate, we’re spotlighting the Bucyrus-Erie 2400-R Rotary Water Well Drill.

Developed in late 1974, the 2400-R featured a modular design that made it incredibly versatile. Its machinery deck allowed for a wide range of component combinations without costly modifications, making it adaptable to all kinds of drilling conditions. In fact, up to 30 different configurations were possible thanks to its strong, durable deck and frame - everything needed for efficient and flexible operation in the field.

Come see us at 1919 12th Avenue in South Milwaukee!
🕙 Open 10 AM–3 PM on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

04/23/2026

RC Bucyrus 795B mining shovel model on display in the Bucyrus Museum.