Monday, April 2, 2018

A 1923 Dodge Touring Car and the Klu Klux Klan





I've likely told you of the reality that the KKK had a large presence in my home town of Hinton, West Virginia in the early to late 1920's but there is the verified story that my grandfather Carlos Garten, as a young man, during that time and while running a taxi cab service would pick up Klansmen from various parts of the outlying areas and bring them to town for rallies.

Attached is a photo of grandfather (around the age of 23) standing beside his 1923 Dodge sedan that served as the taxi.  In the photo is his wife Inez, my father, my uncle, and my aunt as children.  The West Virginia licence plate says 1923 on the corner.

Carlos' father ran a thriving railroad town general store (a so-called Cash & Carry) and the car is parked in front of the store with "Garten & Son" lettered on the front window.

Can you imagine this vehicle filled with a load of white robed, pointed-hat Klansmen?  Ironically, the symbol for the Dodge Brothers vehicles, affixed to the top of the radiator, was a Star of David. ðŸ˜‹


Ed -- I Think the Dodge brothers used two interlocking triangles as their brand logo to indicate the strength of two strong brothers, not that the symbol was the  star of David. Anyway, I learned that factoid somewhere along the way. -- John

1 comment:

  1. What a wonderful vintage photograph and fascinating history. Thanks for posting this. The license plate is partially obscured, but the positioning of the visible lettering suggests two characters are obscured. Possibly H3 - it would be nice to see another photo to confirm what the first two are.

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