Mechanical Wonder at Capac
The original Kempf Model City was constructed in the early 1900s by Fred S. Kempf. He completed the work between the ages of 16 and 21. He made every single part, by hand, from scrap materials. The Model City was hailed as one of the most remarkable constructions of the time, and was shown at events all over America. Then during a terrible train crash, the model city was destroyed. Fred Kempf and his wife lost their lives in that same train wreck in 1915.
Bruce and Irving Kempf began construction on a new
model city that eventually was hailed as the "Mechanical
Wonder of the Age". The Model City is a mechanical city,
built to the scale of 1/8 inch to the foot. It is 40
feet in length by 4 feet wide. The entire Model City is
operated by a ½ horsepower motor, found in the mountain,
at the end of the city. The city was fully operational
and depicts a typical American city in the 1920s. The
city is fully populated with hand-carved people and has
all the necessities of life. Cars that travel along the
streets are serviced by a corner gasoline station. When
they wear out, there is even a junkyard filled with
tires and rusted iron. The new mechanical wonder had
more than 17,000 moving parts.
For 19 years the city was displayed from coast to coast
and throughout Canada: The Century of Progress, Chicago:
Atlantic City’s Steel Pier: Great Lakes Exposition,
Cleveland: and Lakeside Park, Denver, Canadian National
Exhibition and all the major State Fairs in the United
States. During the Christmas seasons it was displayed in
major department stores across the United States, and
many large movie lobbies, from New York City to San
Francisco. The Model City went into storage at the onset
of WW II and was moved to Grand Blanc, Michigan. In
1988, the Capac Historical Museum purchased the
mechanical wonder city.
Inside the Capac Historical Museum the "Mechanical
Wonder of the Ages" is on display. It is being
refurbished. The Model City is remarkable for its size
and detail. When fully functioning, it looks like an
actual living city.
Lights inside most of the structures reveal that life in
“Model City” is not restricted to the streets. A man
rocks comfortably in a chair inside the Maxwell Coffee
House, and a new fire engine is poised inside the doors
of the fire station. Blue lights flash on and off at the
welding factory, indicating a night shift at work. A
general store on the main drag displays bananas and
other fresh fruit. All the more remarkable is the fact
that the whole thing runs on small sewing machine motors
and belts, no transistors and no computer chips.
The train wreck that destroyed the original mechanical
wonder was described as "horrific" and the cars were
quickly engulfed in flames. One of the last acts of the
lives of Fred and Blanche Kempf was to literally, throw
their infant daughter out the window of the train. That
act saved her life. In 1988, Bruce and Irving’s niece,
Hazel Kempf Mack, the little girl whose life was saved
the day of the train crash that killed her parents,
located the Model City in Grand Blanc. Events were set
in motion that returned the city to its home in Capac.
The history, the photos and the "Mechanical Wonder of
the Ages" are housed in Capac at the museum.