Colorado's quirky 'washing machine museum' features 1,000-plus varieties of appliance

Colorado is home to many unique attractions, but the Lee Maxwell Washing Museum might be the most unusual.

The museum is located in Weld County's Eaton and was created by Lee Maxwell, according to an article from Rocky Mountain PBS. Maxwell has been collecting washing machines since 1985 and opened the museum in 1992 to "educate and entertain visitors" with tours and demonstrations on how the machines work.

Before opening the museum, Maxwell was a professor of electrical engineering at Colorado State University. After his retirement, Maxwell and his wife Barbara took a road trip to Maine and returned with 13 washing machines, including wooden hand-cranked machines, gasoline-powered machines, and electrical and metal machines.

Today, the museum consists of two warehouses on Maxwell's property and 1,700 antique washing machines. Maxwell has also taken up woodworking to build some washing machine models himself.

The museum is only open to guided tours and there is a $150 minimum fee to admit ten or fewer people.

Find more information about the museum here .

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