We take this mission very seriously and opened our doors in 2001, committed to providing a first-class, informative experience for our guests. In 2002, the City of Sturgis was so impressed with our progress that they gifted the Museum the “Old Post Office” building on one of the city’s most prestigious locations, the corner of legendary Main Street and Junction Avenue. The building, built in 1937, lends itself to a museum. With a lot of remodeling and a lot more hard work, the Museum opened its lower level to visitors in the summer of 2003. Our space was doubled and allowed us to add seven additional exhibit rooms, full of motorcycling history.

The Museum’s collection is almost exclusively comprised of loaned items, earning us the pseudonym “The People’s Museum”. Motorcycles, visual images and memorabilia are loaned on a two to three year basis, allowing us to constantly update exhibits that draw our frequent visitors back and offer first-time guests a glimpse into the magnificent history of two wheeled transportation.
We courted sponsors, wrote grants and utilized our friends in the industry and in the motorcycle press to introduce our year-round attraction to motorcycle enthusiasts and non-riding visitors alike. Where we once begged for motorcycles to fill our rooms, we soon found people were contacting us to offer up their treasures.

In 2004, we found ourselves turning away incredibly significant motorcycles due to lack of space. It didn’t take the Board of Directors, a board with vision and the courage to keep the dream growing, long to determine that another level needed to be added to the building, giving us space to house 35-40 more motorcycles and numerous pieces of memorabilia.

With our unique location in a community known as a motorcycling Mecca we are often contacted by film crews such as National Geographic, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, etc., and students from primary education to university levels for use of our archives. One day we plan on having a catalog of still and moving images to help promote the significance of motorcycling and its place in history.

Our web site will one day offer a detailed time line of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, beginning in 1938 and running through to present day which will show our impact and the important role Sturgis and the Rally has had on our sport and lifestyle.

By having the integrity to always stay true to our mission; providing a professional and secure location; and seeking out obscure, unique and historically significant motorcycles for displays, we will continue to cement our reputation as a premier museum. We will continue to grow, continue to improve, continue to educate.