Harold LeMay began collecting cars in 1960 and his collection eventually grew to about 1,900 vehicles. In 1998, the Guinness Book of World Records listed the LeMay collection as the “Largest Antique & Vintage Vehicle Collection.” There is a problem with such a large collection: where to store them?
The possible solution to storage appeared in the 1980s in the form of the Marymount Military Academy. In 1921, the Sisters of St. Dominic opened the Marymount Military Academy in Tacoma, Washington. The sisters ceased the operation of the school in 1975 and by the 1980s they could no longer afford the upkeep on the facility. When the property was auctioned, Harold LeMay was not the high bidder, but he was the only one who promised to preserve the property so long as he was able. Today, Marymount is the home of the LeMay Family Collection Foundation which displays about 500 of the vehicles on the property.
The vehicles are displayed in six galleries in one of the old Marymount buildings as well as in two storage facilities creatively named the White Building and the Green Building. The old Marymount building is built out of brick and is therefore called the Red Building. There are also vehicles—farm vehicles, train locomotives, school buses, and heavy equipment—throughout the grounds.
The Grounds
The Open Storage Sheds