Abbot-Downing Company was a coach and carriage builder in Concord, New Hampshire, which became known throughout the United States for its products — in particular the Concord coach. The business's roots went back to 1813, and it persisted in some form into the 1930s with the manufacture of motorized trucks and fire engines. The company name was sold to Wells Fargo.

Abbot and Downing

The business was founded in Concord in 1813 by

wheelwright A wheelwright is a Artisan, craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word "wright", (which comes from the Old English word "''wryhta''", meaning a worker or shaper of wood) as in shipbuilding ...

Lewis Downing (1792-1873) from

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was firs ...

. In 1825 Downing, having decided to make coaches, hired

coachbuilder A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

J. Stephen Abbot of

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

. They formed a partnership that lasted from 1828 to 1847. Abbot and his son specialized in bodies, Downing and his sons in the running gear.Allan Forbes, Ralph M. Eastman. ''Taverns and stagecoaches of New England: Anecdotes and Tales ...'' Boston, State Street Trust Co., 1953.

The Concord coach

Lewis Downing and Sons

In 1847, Downing went into direct competition with his former partner, taking his two sons into a new partnership known as Lewis Downing and Sons.

Abbot-Downing Company

Abbot continued building vehicles under the name Abbot-Downing Company of Concord, New Hampshire. Lewis Downing retired in 1865, and his two sons joined in partnership with Abbot. Lewis Downing Junior assumed leadership of the new partnership.

Abbot, Downing & Company

Abbot-Downing made coaches and large passenger vehicles of all kinds, including horse-drawn

streetcars A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

. They made all kinds of wagons, including ambulances and gun carriages during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

. Incorporated in 1873, they kept offices in New York and in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

at 388 Atlantic Avenue. By 1900, the period of great prosperity was over. They had opened shops in New York and

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the ...

and established an agency in Australia but — instead of taking to mass production like most industries — Abbot, Downing stuck with custom orders and handwork. After the death of Lewis Downing Junior in 1901, ownership of the company assets passed to Samuel C. Eastman. The society sold the assets to a Concord banker who kept them but sold the name Abbot Downing to the Wells Fargo Company.

Wells Fargo

Since 2012, Wells Fargo has used the Abbot Downing name for its ultra-high-net-worth management service.

Special customers

* Wells Fargo and their contractors. "At one point in 1868, for example, a train left the factory site with thirty Concord Coaches built for the Wells Fargo Company in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...

Abbot-Downing Truck and Body Company

Some local investors resurrected Abbot, Downing's activities in 1912, adding motorized

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...

s and

fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...

s to the new catalogue. It was dissolved in 1925.

International

Australia

Freeman Cobb (1830-1878), born in Brewster, Massachusetts, joined express agents Adams & Co in 1849. In 1853 he was sent to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Australia, with George Mowton, a senior employee, to establish a branch. Cobb had taken over to Australia two Concord thoroughbrace wagons for Adams & Co, and in July 1853 they began a carrying service from Melbourne to its

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as ...

. The carrying venture was unsuccessful largely because of very bad weather and, like Wells Fargo, Adams & Co withdrew from Australia. A railway on the same route was opened in September 1854. Neither Adams & Co nor Wells Fargo had become properly set up in Australia. However, their former employees remained in Australia and formed a partnership, Cobb & Co. Their average age was 22."Memories of Cobb & Co." '' Kyogle Examiner'' July 13, 1928 page 3K. A. Austin, ''Cobb, Freeman (1830–1878)''
Australian Dictionary of Biography
National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Published first in hardcopy 1969, accessed online 23 March 2018. On January 30, 1854 the new firm, having mounted seats in the former Adams & Co Concord wagons, started a stagecoach service running the 100-odd miles between

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, mak ...

and Melbourne through

Castlemaine Castlemaine may mean: * Castlemaine, Victoria, a town in Victoria, Australia ** Castlemaine Football Club, an Australian rules football club ** Castlemaine railway station * Castlemaine, County Kerry, a town in Ireland * Castlemaine Brewery, Western ...

, then named Forest Creek. This service proved very profitable. 1856 was the year of Victoria's greatest gold yield. The following advertisement appeared in Melbourne's ''Argus'' in October 1857: "For Sale: Lord & Co., No. 30 King Street, (Melbourne) have on SALE: Coaches. 3 superb concord stage coaches, with seats for 25 passengers." At the end of 1857 the first of these Concord coaches was put into service by Cobb & Co carrying 21 passengers (it later carried 30 passengers), and the other two coaches soon joined it. Francis Boardman Clapp (1833-1920), American founder of the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company and an early partner in Cobb & Co, advertised himself from 1867 as "Victoria's Sole Agent for Abbott, Downing & Company's Coaches, Carriages and Buggies". His office and showroom was at 65 Little Collins Street, Melbourne.

Local manufacture

In 1862 Cobb & Co left Melbourne and established headquarters in

Bathurst, New South Wales Bathurst () is a city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. Bathurst is about 200 kilometres (120 mi) west-northwest of Sydney and is the seat of the Bathurst Regional Council. Bathurst is the oldest inland settlement i ...

, including new coach and harness factories which built them coaches "in the manner of" Abbot & Downing. Most Australian-made coaches were 12 and 25 passenger vehicles. A coach for 60 passengers was built at Bathurst but proved a failure. Other coachbuilding factories were established at Goulburn, Bourke,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and Charleville.

Chile

In 1855 Adams & Co ran daily express Concord coaches from Valparaiso to

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

South Africa

Freeman Cobb lost money in banking investments and returned to Adams & Co to manage their Boston agency. In 1871 he took his family and settled in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, S ...

, South Africa where he operated a coach service to the diamond fields at

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

under the name Cobb & Co. His health failed and his profitable business suffered and became insolvent in 1878 a few months before he died in Port Elizabeth. His family returned to Brewster.

Rhodesia

"In the early years of

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally k ...

the only method of travelling was by great lumbering coaches similar to those formerly in use in America. They were large and roomy vehicles capable of holding twelve passengers inside and two outside besides the two drivers. They were drawn by ten mules and carried besides the twenty-five pounds of luggage allowed to each traveller all the Government parcels and mails." . . . "the coach never stopping day or night except at stations every twelve miles or so where the mules were changed or at a wayside store where half an hour was allowed for a hasty meal.
Percy F Hone
Percy F Hone. Chapter XIII, Transport, ''Southern Rhodesia,'' George Bell and Sons, London, 1909

References

External links

Abbot-Downing Historical Society
{{Commons category, Abbot-Downing Coachbuilders of the United States Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States 1813 establishments in Massachusetts Manufacturing companies established in 1813 Manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts Manufacturing companies based in New Hampshire