Women in Transportation

Women's riding outfit featuring a white duster coat, brown gloves, a driving cap with goggles and a pink scarf.

About the Exhibit

The Women’s Transportation Hall of Fame

The museum is home to the National Women’s Transportation Hall of Fame. This unique installment honors women’s contributions and achievements in the field of transportation— with automobiles as well as cycling.

The Museum has hosted induction ceremonies to honor:

Alice Ramsey: the first woman to drive across the U.S. in 1909.
Emily Anderson: retraced Alice Ramsey’s 1909 Ramsey’s drive in 2009.
Marguerite Hambleton: AAA New York State.
Donna Luh: NYS Thruway Authority, NFTA.
Mary Martino: AAA WNY, NFTA.
Joann Villeneuve: mother of Formula 1 Champion Jacques Villeneuve.
Clarice Burgwardt: co-founder of the Pedaling History Museum.
Lauren Fix: “The Car Coach,” professional race car driver.
Melinda Burgwardt Gibson: (Posthumous), Captain NYS Wheelmen
Dianne Craig: Director of U.S. Sales, Ford Motor Co.

Women and Cycling

A charter member of Buffalo’s Wheel and Athletic Club was Mrs. Louise Bethune, known as the first female architect, who purchased the first woman’s bicycle sold in Buffalo. Mrs. Bethune was known as one of the most tireless and persevering riders in the club.

In the 1890s, women competed alongside men in “Century Runs,” or 100 mile bike races, an impactful symbol of women’s suffrage.