Jones Horse-Drawn Streetcar, circa 1875

The horse-drawn streetcar was an important means of public transportation in 19th-century American cities. New York's Brooklyn City Railroad ran this car on its line between Hunters Point in Long Island City, and Erie Basin in South Brooklyn. But horses were expensive to stable and feed -- and messy too. Operators embraced electric streetcars starting in the late 1880s.

Few American cities embraced the automobile like Los Angeles. The southern California metropolis opened the first of its many limited-access freeways in 1940. Work on the Harbor Freeway, seen here, began in the early 1950s. Now designated Interstate 110, this freeway connects the downtown area with the Port of Los Angeles to the south, and with Pasadena to the northeast.

Abbot, Downing & Company of Concord, New Hampshire, was the largest and best-known maker of stagecoaches. Sturdy, durable, and comfortable, Concord coaches were shipped by rail all over the country.

Americans didn't invent the automobile, but we embraced it and quickly made it our own. Cars cruise through our music, movies, and dreams. They drive innovation and create frustration. They are objects of beauty and sources of blight. The vehicles in the "Driving America" exhibit reveal how the car reshaped our culture and landscape. The decisions we make now, individually and collectively, will define our automotive future.