Carriage Making

Print shows two men working in a shop making a carriage, 1840-90. (LC)

Mrs. Mary L. McLean in carriage pulled by 4 horses; 2 liveried footmen standing on rear of carriage and 2 uniformed outriders mounted on left pair of horses. Washington, D.C. ca. 190- (LC)

A woman standing in an automobile addresses a passer-by in horsedrawn buggy while a man is making repairs under the automobile, c. 1914 (LC).

Technological Antecedents – The Carriage

It would be remiss not to include as discussion of the carriage as a technological antecedent, with an evolutionary history that went back to the ancient world. Two wheeled carts and four wheeled wagons were commonplace in 19^thcentury America, often equipped with leaf and elliptical springs or leather straps that served to suspend the carriage on a frame. Indeed, the word car came from Old Northern 14^thcentury French, and described a 2 wheeled cart used to take goods to market. So many of the terms and components associated with 20^th century automobility had their roots in 19^th century carriage technology. For example, the dashboard was commonplace in carriages, as it functioned as a screen to block the mud, water and snow that was thrown up by horses’ heels. Fancy carriages were upholstered and illuminated by oil, carbide, or electric lamps. They also could be equipped with a trunk, toolbox and running board. And a number of carriage types would be carried over in descriptions of automobiles: brake; cabriolet; coupé; hearse; landau; limousine; phaeton. But just as walking was predicted to be a thing os the past so was the widespread use of the carriage. As late as 1914 there were still more than 4,600 carriage companies operating in the United States, but by 1925 there were only about 150 and in 1929 fewer than 90.[i]

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[i]Thomas A. Kinney, The Carriage Trade: Making Horse-Drawn Vehicles in America.Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.

PHOTOCOPY FROM 1911 PHOTOGRAPH OF McFARLAN CARRIAGE CO., FROM COLLECTION OF HENRY BLOMMEL, CONNERSVILLE, INDIANA - McFarlan Carriage Company, Mount Street, Connersville, Fayette County, IN (LC)

Copy of early 20th Century lithograph looking north showing aerial view of company. Rendering owned by the Crawford Auto- aviation Museum, 10825 East Blvd, Cleveland, Ohio. - Winton Motor Carriage Company, Berea Road & Madison Avenue, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH

1878