The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 is the sort of thing that just keeps spawning cool ideas. Not only did it spark the City Beautiful Movement — which heavily influenced the re-design of D.C.’s monumental core — it also saw the birth of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Wrigley’s Gum, and Cracker Jack’s. And, as we recently learned, the squished penny souvenir.

Although we have spotted the machines around the country at a variety of tourist attractions, we hadn’t put much thought into their origin until we came across a man squishing his own pennies that read “Squished Penny Museum” at the 2004 Crafty Bastards Fair. Just about a year later we decided to finally schedule an appointment to see the museum (it is housed in a private residence) and find out exactly what it contained. Imagining dimly lit rooms jealously guarded by an eccentric collector, we instead found the exhibits to be interesting and the curators pleasant and informative.

We were greeted by the house’s enthusiastic proprietors Christine and Pete, clad in the museum’s matching t-shirts. They showed us selections from their collection of 6,000+ squished pennies, gladly answered our questions, and let us turn out a few pennies on their custom manufactured penny squishing machine. They freely admitted that “probably almost everyone” who had visited was a bit eccentric and patiently explained how the pennies were invented in 1893 and popularized in the 1980s with the introduction of the commercial squishing machine. Although the museum has been around for a few years — they’ve already prepared a commemorative penny to celebrate the museum’s 10-year anniversary in 2006 — they are going strong and well worth a visit.

To learn more about the Squished Penny Museum or arrange a visit, check out their website at squished.com.