1950s All-Electric House

Nestled within the museum's signature exhibition Becoming Johnson County, visitors will encounter the 1950s All-Electric House. Built in 1953 by the region's local electric company, the all-electric house exemplified ideals about “modern American family living” and the dream many Americans were seeking in moving to the suburbs. Not all who wanted that lifestyle were welcome however -- economics and discrimination prevented some people from realizing this vision of the American Dream. A mere forty years after it was built, this ‘house of the future’ became an integral exhibit within the museum to better understand race and class in America.