Reuniting Families with their Past

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The Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum is known for telling the stories of the equipment, buildings, and legacy of the amusement industry in Western New York. Hundreds of families have stories of building America's amusement tradition and testing its rides as children. Your support this year empowered the museum to develop our temporary exhibit Who Built the Rides? This exhibit told the stories of five former employees and their families, including the Hendersons. The exhibit also includes never before seen personnel effects from employees and an updated employee register. Projects like this exhibit would not be possible without your support!

A cover of an Allan Herschell Catalog featuring 2 year old Catherine Agnello (Henderson).

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Catherine first entered the Allan Herschell Factory as a young girl. The last of Richard T. Henderson’s four children joined her father at work one day after her 2nd birthday. Combining his work with his photography hobby, Richard took numerous photographs of Catherine on carousel horses, and created some of the most iconic amusement imagery in the process.


These photographs of Catherine were used throughout the 1950s in national advertisements, brochures, and on the cover of the company catalog. Due to the tragic early death of Richard in 1953, these photographs are very important to the Henderson family, and in preserving Richard’s legacy.

An interior page of an Allan Herschell Catalog featuring Catherine.

Our museum loves being a place that brings families together to learn about the history of amusement in Western New York, and, of course, to enjoy a carousel ride. Our family-friendly programs, events, and exhibits are all supported by your generous donations. We encourage you to come see Who Built the Rides? and experience all the new programs we have to offer.

Your year-end gift will help us to continue our operations and to bring fun events, new exhibits and educational programming to our community in the future. 
Thank you for your visits, kind words, and continued support.​

Photograph of the Buy-A-Brick the family purchased to honor Richard and his connection with the museum. It is on display in our Kiddieland entrance.

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​To view some of our past stories, click the links below:
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2020
​2021 
​2022
​2023
2024
2025

What does my donation support?

Donations like yours go to support our ongoing community programs and initiatives, as well as new exhibits, such as Who Built the Rides? Donations also go towards our current projects to help better serve our communities needs!

Examples of supported programs

The museum is proud to feature many Accessibility programs. More information on all of the programs are available on the link above.
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One such program is the Sensory Backpack Program. The museum has four backpacks filled with items that can help enhance the museum experience some guests. Item include sunglasses, weighted blankets, and noise cancelling headphones. These backs are available to barrow for no cost in the Museum Gift Shop.