Higgin's Armory: End of an Era

Located in Worcester, MA, Higgin’s Armory was the only Museum in the Western Hemisphere solely dedicated to the collection of arms and armor until 2004. It operated as a non-profit museum and was founded in 1931 by John Woodman Higgins a prominent industrialist who owned Worcester Pressed Steel Company. 

As owner of Worcester Pressed Steel, John Woodman Higgins, had a fascination with all things metal both new and old. While traveling to Europe in the 1920’s he collected arms, armor and other steel items. His collection at first was stored in his home but it was quickly realized that he needed a more suitable location and more space to display his vast collection. Having outgrown his home he began construction in 1929 of a steel and glass building next to his factory. In 1928 he incorporated his collection as a museum. The new facility opened on January 12, 1931. His collection displayed medieval weaponry as well as automobile parts and even an all steel airplane which hung from its ceiling. 

The collection consisted of over 2,000 objects making it the second largest collection of arms and armor behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. It included 24 full suits of armor, and gladiator helmet to name a few. Its oldest object was an Eastern Mediterranean dagger from between 3,000 and 1,500 B.C.E.

Tours of the museum began with a walk through his collection and ended with a tour of the production lines of his modern steel manufacturing facility. The building itself was designed in the Art Deco motif and was a 4-story L-shaped facility designed by Joseph D Leland. It was a steel frame construction covered in glass and was built at a cost of over $300,000. It is believed to be one of, if not the first buildings in the US built entirely of steel and glass. 

In 1961 Higgin’s died and left an endowment of only $17,000 to support the museum. In 1978 the museum was robbed and over 100,000 worth of armor was stolen. This break-in and theft lead to changes and in 1979 the museum went from a private foundation to a publicly supported charity. Over the course of the next few decades many offers from the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art in NYC, the Worcester Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston were turned down. The museum board rewrote the mission statement and transformed the museum from an exhibit of steel manufacturing and refocused the collection on Ancient and Medieval arms and armor. 

In early 2010 with the endowment dwindling more than 500 items were sold off to shore up its finance’s but it wasn’t meant to be and in early 2013 it was announced that the museum would close and its collection would be transferred and integrated into the Worcester Art Museum’s collection.

Before it closed I decided to make one last visit to the museum. I had been numerous times during my lifetime as either a student on a field trips or just a visit with my family. As I walked the exhibits halls and admired the amazing collection I couldn’t help but feel sad that this great collection was soon going to be broken down and moved. While the collection is remaining intact and soon to be housed locally at WAM I am sad that the amazing building’s future is unknown. It is an architectural treasure and as much a part of the collection as any other individual piece. Hopefully like the collection a new purpose can be found for this structure that keeps it whole allowing the legacy that was John Woodman Higgin’s to survive as one of the most prominent industrialist’s of this time and contributor to not just Worcester but to society as a whole.  

 









Task 17 - Pay off Credit Card

My friends and family would likely use the term frugal to describe me but that hasn't always been the case. In fact during my younger years they might have described me as totally the opposite. I never left the house with less then $500 in cash never looked at or considered what things cost.

I lived a life in a way that needs and wants were the same thing and I never wanted for anything. That behavior definitely had its costs and I managed to collect some fairly hefty credit card bills each month. I never had any problem paying them until I had a blip in the employment area. During that time I didn't really adjust my lifestyle and actually I spent more since I wasn't working. Part of it was home remodeling that I had already planned to do and had already committed a fairly large amount of money too. So rather then paying those cards off every month as I was accustomed they built up and left me with a relatively big nut to crack.

When the light bulb in my head finally turned on I made a lot of changes in my life. Partly because if I continued down that road it would have lead to financial ruin but also because I found a new hobby. That new hobby was seeing how frugally I could live. It was strange for me at first since I had never considered what anything cost. My parents are affluent successful people and provided very well for me. When I wasn't in school I was working and as such was able to provide for myself when my parents responsibility was done. They taught me the value of money but I missed the lesson on appreciating that value and what it all meant. Not working definitely taught me that lesson.

When I found a new job I didn't change that new mind set and have continued to be more careful then I had been in the past. No more fancy 50-80k cars that I would trade in every 2 years. No more dining at super expensive restaurants every weekend and no dropping 200$ every night every weekend out at the bars. I definitely noticed a shift in my friendships too. It was then that I realized that many were just along for the ride and weren't true friends.

While a large portion of my collected debt was from home remodeling and decorating that expense was no longer needed since my condo was completely renovated and decorated. My debt was manageable with some planning I could pay it all off. I setup a budget (that used to be a naughty word) and put myself on a payment plan. Some cards vanished almost immediately and others I consolidated into a few large ones with very low rates.

I had set a goal to pay them off with out stunting my lifestyle entirely. I am a hard worker and I love to travel and I vowed not to allow my debt to stop me from enjoying life.   I didn't need to go cold turkey I just needed to learn how to do things in moderation and on a budget.  Thankfully I stayed on track and now one of those cards is down to 0$. It is liberating to know that one is gone and now I am going to take the payment I had been sending to that one and add it to the other. This will help me pay it down even faster then planned. Hopefully by the end of my extended Day Zero Project it too will be a thing of the past.

Task 20 - Pay off Car Loan

When I bought my current car I had a choice between 36 and 60 month terms. I opted for the 60 month term since my bank was running a promotion for used cars reducing the APR to the same as the 36 month loan. There was no early payment penalty so I figured why not take the longer term and I would just plan to pay as if it was a 48 month term. 

I take very good care of my vehicles and keep up with preventative maintenance. I knew I had a timing belt coming soon so I took the car in early to get it done. I even paid cash to get a better price.  It was a mechanic I had used before and that my parents had used for years. Unfortunately shortly after that maintenance the timing belt skipped and ruined the engine. It was very disappointing that a bad mechanic could throw such an expensive wrench in my plans.

I managed to find a new mechanic who was honest and fairly priced who put my car back together at a more affordable price then the dealership wanted to charge. This however significantly slowed my increased payment stream since I first had to cover the 2800 engine I just had installed. I decided to slow my payments to the required amount only and replenish my savings account I had just drained.

While that slowed me down about 7 months I am happy to report that the car is paid off and the title in hand. It’s a great feeling not having a payment anymore. I have 120k miles on the car averaging 30k+ a year and hope to get a couple more years before needing to replace it. I plan to continue to pay myself the car payment to savings as a future down payment on a new car to keep the next loan as small as possible and also to help fund my Murphy Fund.
 

Task 83 - Decorating for the Holiday's

Christmas is one of my most favorite times of the year. I love Christmas not because of the presents but because of the decorations and the twinkling lights. There is something about the effort people put in to decorating their homes that makes me smile. People picking out their trees as a family and loading them on the roofs of their car just puts me in a joyous mood. Admittedly I avoid the craziness of holiday shopping and try to get all that done long before the holiday rush descends on the malls. Shopping for gifts I think brings out the worst in people especially with strangers.

While I haven’t always put up decorations this year I started early. I hung my pair of 48” wreaths on my balcony but added garland and some supersized ornaments to appease the older folks in the building who told me that in years past they looked a tad provocative from the street. One of the more honest told me they looked like a pair of breasts.

I also set up my 4.5’ tree and covered it in ornaments my mom and dad got for me from the place where I work part time. They know how much I like them since I have mentioned them several times. I don’t want to know what they spent on all those handmade ornaments but it looks amazing. I added the bunch I picked up a last year on sale to make the tree look perfect. I will have to get some more this year when they go on clearance after the holidays so I can fill in the back of the tree since right now I only have ornaments on the 2 exposed sides.

My favorite ornament has to be my honu (green sea turtle) with his santa’s hat. I picked him up while in Hawaii and knew he would be a great addition to the tree. I always keep an eye out for unusual ornaments that will evoke memories from trips taken or people gone so that that they grace my tree and be part of the holidays with me.

The hardest part about decorating my smaller scaled tree was finding a tree topper that wasn’t too big for it. Apparently they don’t make tree toppers for smaller trees. I got lucky and came across a perfect star at the temporary Christmas store at the mall. I grossly overpaid since a friend of mine bought the same star except 3 times the size at Christmas Tree Shop for 1/10th the price.

While there I also found a great tree skirt to cover the driftwood stool I used to elevate the tree to make it a tad taller allowing me more room to stack up all the Christmas presents that will surely surround it this year. Most of them are already purchased and I just need to wrap , label and put a bow on them.\

I also set up two smaller trees to go on each side of my breakfast bar. I scored these trees for $5 each last year. They were display trees at the store and after the holidays’ they just wanted them gone. I used some of the small ornaments my grandmother’s gave to me to bring a little bit of her back into the season.

For my door I found the perfect wreath. My door has a dark wood veneer and most green wreaths just fad away and don't show very well but I found a white and gold wreath I thought would look perfect. After hanging it the lady across the hall from me commented on how beautiful she thought it was and asked where I got it. Ill take that as affirmation that he looked good.

I also pulled out my two stockings and hung them up. It will take some time to fill them up with goodies but no house is complete without a stocking or two.