The “Transportation Mural” was conceived by Orville Goldner and the prime artist, Juan Larrinaga, in September 1935 for the California Pacific International Exposition when it was decided that the fair would run another year. While the Ford Company pulled out of the exhibition the second year, they donated the structure and the building became The Great Hall of Transportation. The Mural contained 281 single figures and 125 groups of figures. It was 18 feet high, excluding the border, and 468 feet long. It was completed in six months.

After the exposition, the mural was largely ignored while the building went through various uses (including storage and a welding school), until February 1979. When the Aerospace Museum prepared to move into the Ford Building following the Electrical Building fire that destroyed much of the collection, various restoration efforts went underway. Thomas Parker Emery was commissioned to restore the two murals painted by Juan Larrinaga (the other being the Explorer II mural). It took eight months to clean, patch, and restore over 10,000 square feet of wall surface.