The man that i nominate for the Erie Hall of Fame was the world famous industrial designer, architect, and visionary WILBUR HENRY ADAMS, born in Erie on June 1, 1906. By 1937 he was recognized as one of the top fifteen modernistic industrial designers in the US. His collaborative work with Raymond Hood resulted in the design of Radio City/Rockefeller Plaza, as well as the Daily News Building in New York City...Adams innovative design for the SkyWay Drive-in Theater was exhibited at the prestigious Hanover Design Exhibition in Germany in 1951, along with architectural giants Frank Lloyd Wright, Eric Mendelsohn, Charles Eames, Oscar Niemeyer, and LeCorbusier. The design of the theater's seventy foot steel structure was the largest in the world at that time. According to Forbes Magazine, by

1944 Adams had designed $50,000,000 worth of merchandise. His work for local companies included Griswold Manufacturing, Zurn, American Sterilizer, Eriez Magnetics, and Lyons Transportation.

Adams was deeply involved in the Erie art community. When the Old Customs House was about to be razed, he rallied the troops and managed to save what has now become our beloved Erie Art Museum. Adams designed a float for the 1938 Rose Bowl Parade. This float was based on the W.H. Powell painting which was hanging in the Capitol. The float depicted Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry transferring from his damaged flagship, the Lawrence, to our ever popular Niagara.

Adams and his artist wife, Arlene, lived in Erie at RDF1, Wolf Road where they raised four children, kept chickens, cats, goats, gardened organically and collected antiques. Adams worked in what a November 16,

1946 issue of the Erie Sun referred to as his "farm studio"

On March 13, 1942 a UP release out of Washington stated that "The War Production Board ordered bicycle manufacturing curtailed" due to the necessary conservation of metal and tin in a time of war. Adams rolled out his idea for an all-wood tricycle at the American Toy Fair in New York. THese tricycles, as well as bicycles were soon being manufactured by the COLSON CORPORATION in Elyria, OH. Adams designed "the BEST bike in the WORLD"..ridden by Pee Wee Herman in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure"!!!!

Adam's relationship with Colson expanded. Business Week, July 31,1943 featured an advertisement for the Colson"Play Center" designed by Adams for inner-city children, "where children will play happily and safely".

Always on the forefront of technology, Adams took a great interest in alternative materials. He envisioned barns and silos of plastic, thereby eliminating the need to constantly paint and disinfect. Newsweek published a rendering of his"dream of the day when the plastic era comes to the farm"

Much of Adam's work was considered futuristic, but in retrospect must be considered prophetic. His "futuristic" vehicle designs were being realized in autos and buses being produced ten years later. In May of 1940 he had unveiled the Super Service Station using streamlined autos as his inspiration for the glass and enamel structure. This "Service Station of Tomorrow" was featured in an extensive showing at the Erie Public Museum and in Fortune Magazine.

It was Adam's idea to take pedestrian traffic to the second story level on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, thereby separating cars and people and allowing shop front windows at two levels. He also dreamt of moving sidewalks, and created a "motorized market" design for Detroit, MI. This amazingly innovative design allowed for ground floor, off-street parking for 100 cars, counters and stalls for non-perishables on the first floor, and meats on the second floor, a cafeteria and restrooms on the third floor, and a supervised playground for children on the roof.

An August issue of Restaurant Management (no year available) featured Adam's "Trans-Oceanic Restaurant" inspired by the new travel horizons that ocean crossings by plane will permit after the war.." These components were made by Griswold Manufacturing of Erie.

Adams' designs are obviously too numerous to detail, but include:

Twin Coach Company Buses

Stewart-Warner refrigerators

Divco-Twin milk trucks (the first stand-up milk truck) Willard batteries B.F. Goodrich Silvertown tire sidewalls Luxaire gas fire air conditioning units Silent Maid refrigerators Electromaster ranges and water heaters Oliver tractors Lyons Transportation truck logos Eire Tool wrenches and cutters

His unrealized dreams and plans for Erie included a Bayfront Amphitheater, a Port Erie Airport of the future, and modern, efficient farms surrounding the city. His ecological plan for Presque Isle included a boulevard causeway across the channel, connecting the Peninsula to the city proper, and a channel and causeway at the neck, effecting greater water circulation, and eliminating pollution in the bay.

Adams' life ended at the age of 52. We are left with much, and his children are archivally preserving his art and designs. We must, however, wonder what else would have come from this visionary, who freely admitted to entertaining a minimum of 100 ideas a day!

His life and works aare meant to be shared with Erie residents.

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