kids here to go to school, and are looking for something to do,” Jim says. “The university contributes a lot (of the visitors). The museum is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the hours are actually structured largely around the Davis Farmers Market crowd. “Hardly anyone comes in on Wednesday. Most visitors come on Saturday and are here because they are going to the Farmers Market.” Admission is free.

The display panels in the museum “could change fairly frequently,” Jim explains. “We like to have something new every four to six weeks, and that also takes quite a bit of time. When we do make a change, we advertise, (such as in) the Davis Enterprise.” The most recent exhibit was the “History of Davis Bike Lanes.” Created by bike activist Ted Buehler, the exhibit highlights the success of Davis in creating America’s first bike lanes. Terminology is key here; Jim explains, “Lots of people already had the paths, but putting bikes legally into traffic is another story.” Ted himself wrote his master’s thesis on this topic, and is “kind of a bike activist, if you will… He really knows his stuff.” The exhibit also contains former chancellor Jim Meyer’s bike. Jim himself used his bicycle as his main means of transportation, which earned him quite the reputation as a bike activist.

Also, “some [exhibits] we refer to as permanent exhibits,” Jim says. These include maps, pictures and newspaper clippings about the railroad, the university, the library club, and Jerome Davis, the town’s founder. “The only thing we do with those is refresh them or replace something,” says Jim.