The Columbus Buggy Company was an early buggy and

automotive manufacturer The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % suc ...

based in Columbus, Ohio, United States, from 1875 to 1913. Begun by three business partners, the company set up its manufacturing facilities in what is today the

Arena District The Arena District is a mixed-use planned development and neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio. The site was developed through a partnership between Nationwide Realty Investors, Ltd. (a subsidiary of Nationwide), the City of Columbus and private inves ...

producing inexpensive buggies and dashboards, and quickly saw success. At its height it employed 1,200 people and was producing 100 buggies a day which were sold in every state in the United States. The company was one of the city's major employers and a significant portion of the city's buggy manufacturing economy. After the turn of the century it oriented itself toward production of electric vehicles and, later, of automobiles. Crippled by the

Great Flood of 1913 The Great Flood of 1913 occurred between March 23 and March 26, after major rivers in the central and eastern United States flooded from runoff and several days of heavy rain. Related deaths and damage in the United States were widespread and ext ...

and unable to compete with cheaper alternatives like the

Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...

, the company eventually went bankrupt in 1913, reorganized, and closed its doors a few years later. It influenced the early automobile industry production methods and several notable employees, including

Eddie Rickenbacker Edward Vernon Rickenbacker or Eddie Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.Harvey S. Firestone. The company buildings, after some time empty, have since been re-developed as office space in the Arena District.

History

Origin

The Columbus Buggy Company was established by entrepreneur Clinton D. Firestone and brothers George and

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

Peters. The three partners saw Columbus, Ohio as a ripe location for a business thanks to cheap labor as well as the recent network of railroads created during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

reducing the costs of goods. The completion of the Hocking Valley Railway also granted them ample access to coal, wood and iron from southeast Ohio. Before starting the company, the Peters brothers had worked in the leather trade, but had developed a process to produce cheap buggies for close to $150 apiece, using wood obtained from a company near the

Ohio Penitentiary The Ohio Penitentiary, also known as the Ohio State Penitentiary, was a prison operated from 1834 to 1984 in downtown Columbus, Ohio, in what is now known as the Arena District. The state had built a small prison in Columbus in 1813, but as the ...

and building using a specialized manufacturing system. Before 1870 they produced 100 and sold them successfully at auction, though their business partners refused further work, leaving them in debt. In 1870, they were introduced to Firestone, a native of Canton, Ohio and who had operated a railroad business in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, moved to Columbus and financed the business with $5,000. Their first venture, Iron Buggy Company, launched in 1870 in a shanty built for $100, at 180 North High Street and focused it on selling cheap buggies. The business saw immediate success thanks to a design created by the Peters brothers and a system of labor that made production efficient, and it sold 237 buggies in its first year. The building it was housed in burnt down on May 27, 1874 and was rebuilt. In 1875 its owners sold the business to another buggy producer, H. K. Tuller of Buckeye Buggy Company.

Success

In 1875, the three formed the Columbus Buggy Company and Peters Dash Company, with $20,000 in capital. Its first facility was locating at Wall and Locust streets near the modern day

One Nationwide Plaza One Nationwide Plaza is a 40-story skyscraper in Columbus, Ohio that serves as the corporate office headquarters of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. It is part of the complex of buildings known as Nationwide Plaza. Nationwide outgrew its 246 ...

building in the

, immediately north of downtown Columbus, and near the Ohio Penitentiary and

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

. His business specialized in making buggies that were affordable to people at all price ranges as well as dashboards, carriage fenders, washes and straps for carriage dealers and manufacturers. The company quickly saw success, drawing $50,000 in revenue in its first year, but sales quickly grew. By 1878 it had 250 employees and was making 100 buggies a week. In 1883, the company had 1,000 employees and was producing 25,000 buggies a year. That year it was struck with a patent infringement lawsuit from

Timken Company The Timken Company is a global manufacturer of bearings and power transmission products. Timken operates from 42 countries. Company history In 1898, Henry Timken obtained a patent for an improved tapered roller bearing, and in 1899 incorporat ...

, alleging the company had stolen the idea for an "automatic" spring part used in its carriages, and seeking $50,000 in damages. Columbus Buggy Co. filed a

countersuit In a court of law, a party's claim is a counterclaim if one party asserts claims in response to the claims of another. In other words, if a plaintiff initiates a lawsuit and a defendant responds to the lawsuit with claims of their own against th ...

and the two businesses traded barbs in trade publications for two months before the courts decided in Studebaker's favor in December 1884. Columbus Buggy Co. was obliged to pay $3,000 in damages, though it began to use Timken springs in models starting in 1886, and the Timken and Firestone families maintained a friendly relationship during and after the litigation. The company continued to add buildings as it continued to expand along High Street until it became the largest manufacturer of buggies in the world. By 1888 it occupied an entire city block between High Street and Wall Street. In 1890 it pledged $5,000 to the creation of a

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

building in downtown Columbus. In the meantime, it began advertising its vehicles and dash products heavily in magazines. At its height in 1892, the company employed 1,200 people and built 100 vehicles and 1,500 carriage

dashboard For business applications, see Dashboard (business). A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel (IP), or fascia) is a control panel set within the central console of a vehicle or small aircraft. Usually located directly ahead of the drive ...

s a day, with its products exported to other countries around the world. Its revenue grew to $2 million a year on an active capital of about $1 million and about $300,000 a month in payroll. The company had a presence at the

1893 Chicago World's Fair The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

, where it boasted that it had dealerships in every state and shipped overseas. By that year, though, its buggies, which sold for $110, were considered overpriced. By 1900, about two dozen other buggy producers had formed around Columbus, with factories working day and night in the city, and an estimated one in six buggies in use around the world was built in Columbus. Some of these companies were older than Columbus Buggy Co, but the manufacturer remained one of the largest businesses in the city. Columbus Buggy Co. moved its production to a new plant at 400 Dublin Road in 1906 at Firestone's insistence.

Branching into automobiles

With the advent of the

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

, Columbus Buggy Co. found itself at a competitive disadvantage to companies in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, which had a greater access to steel. In 1903, though, it opted to produce an electric vehicle to compete with these new and increasingly popular vehicles. The 400 Dublin Road facility began producing its first electric

coupe A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

in 1903, the Columbus Electric Model No. 1000. This would be one of several models of electric vehicle the company produced in larger scale beginning in 1905. The company advertised the vehicles as easy to operate, targeting women, and that they were quiet. But the vehicles were limited by a top speed of , limited range and a need to recharge batteries for several hours. Powered by Willard batteries, this car sold for about $1,000. It produced several models including the No. 3003 Firestone Motor Buggy: a light motor buggy, which it also marketed to physicians as a medical phaeton, as well as the Columbus Station Wagon No. 1102, which was to be driven by a chauffeur while its passengers rode in an enclosed compartment. In 1907, it bought the Springfield Automotive Company of Springfield, Ohio which had been manufacturing the Bramwell, a

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...

powered automobile. In 1909, the company hired Lee Frayer to design a full-sized car, with

Eddie Rickenbacker Edward Vernon Rickenbacker or Eddie Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.model year The model year (sometimes abbreviated "MY") is a method of describing the version of a product which has been produced over multiple years. The model year may or may not be the same as the calendar year in which the product was manufactured. ...

s. There were a few different variations on the vehicle, including the model 76-A, an intermediate sized vehicle that could carry four passengers. The Columbus-Firestone was reported to be the first car with its steering wheel on the left side of the car. Introduced at the 1909 Chicago Auto Show, it became popular and sold 2,000 units a year, all made at the 400 Dublin Road plant. By 1912 there were more cars of this brand than any other in Columbus and the company was producing 2,000 a year. But it also struggled to compete with cheaper competitors, notably the Ford Model T. The company built a special racing buggy, the Red Wing, which it entered into the

1911 Indianapolis 500 The 1911 International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 30, 1911. It was the inaugural running of the Indianapolis 500, which is one of the most prestigious automobile races in the world. Ray ...

, designed by Frayer and Rickenbacker and driven by Frayer. Though the car didn't finish the race, it was credited with finishing 13th in the race. They subsequently entered a car into the

1912 Indianapolis 500 The 1912 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, or International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race, the second such race in history, was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, May 30, 1912. Indiana-born driver Joe Dawson won the race, leadin ...

, this time driven by Rickenbacker. It finished 21st.

Decline

The business was affected by the severe flooding of local rivers during the

and it this damaged the business sufficiently for it to declare bankruptcy, with the company $624,000 in debt. Initially it was offered for sale for 25 cents on the dollar, but received only one offer, for less than $100,000, prompting its interests, headed by Frank L. Chase, to withdraw the offer. Under an order from a federal judge, $273,000, or 44 percent of the debt, was eventually paid to creditors. In 1914, a new entity, named the New Columbus Buggy Co., was incorporated with $500,000 in capital under a new ownership group, including C. A. Finnegan and E. D. Hoefeller of

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. This entity, controlled by the company's creditors, continued production at the plant. That same year, Firestone died. Both the Firestone Electric and the Columbus-Firestone vehicle lines were produced into 1915, when the company ceased operations, leaving an inventory of 35 new electric cars and 12 automobiles, as well as several used cars. Following the closure of the Columbus Buggy Co. The Allen Motor Co. of

Fostoria, Ohio Fostoria (, ) is a city located at the convergence of Hancock, Seneca, and Wood counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is approximately south of Toledo and north of Columbus. The city is known for its railroads, as ap ...

leased the plant and built automobiles there before closing in 1923. The building itself was home to Janitrol Corp. before being redeveloped as the Buggyworks building in the 1990s.

Legacy

Harvey Samuel Firestone by Underwood c1910

The company played a key role in shaping the early history of the automobile. Its manufacturing processes for efficiently producing vehicles were notable and ahead of many companies of its time. The success of the business brought attention to C. D. Firestone, who became a prominent figure in the carriage industry and he became president of the Carriage Builders National Association in 1888. Several of the company's employees rose to great prominence in the industry. Clinton Firestone's cousin, Harvey S. Firestone, was a salesmen for the company. During his time as a salesman, and racing buggies through the streets of

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, Clinton Firestone met

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...

, who helped him obtain tires for custom-built racing carriages. Firestone, seeing the advantage of the buggies' thick rubber tires, left the company and in 1900 founded the

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is a tire company founded by Harvey Firestone (1868–1938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheele ...

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

to produce rubber tires for carriages and buggies. By 1904, it was the largest tire manufacturer in the world. Eddie Rickenbacker joined the company at the age of 17, and he quickly became an engineer and troubleshooter, dispatched to help owners when they had problems with their vehicles, and his service increased the reputation of the business among its owners. It was during this assignment that Rickenbacker, while serving as a test driver for the vehicles, developed an affinity for driving fast cars. Some of the original sales catalog promotional material of the company are still preserved in the

Henry Ford Museum The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection contains ...

Buggyworks complex

The company's original buildings north of downtown Columbus were redeveloped as part of a larger revival of the industrial area north of Columbus — by then termed the Arena District — following the construction of

Nationwide Arena Nationwide Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Since completion in 2000, the arena has served as the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). It is one of two facilities in Columbus, alon ...

. Nationwide Realty Investors, a development affiliate of

Nationwide Insurance Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and affiliated companies, commonly shortened to Nationwide, is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus, Ohio. The company also operates regional headquarters in Scott ...

, acquired two of the production facilities at 390 and 400 W. Nationwide Blvd., termed the "Buggyworks," and redeveloped them into 145,000 square feet of office space. The development project cost $10.5 million. The office buildings attracted a number of tenants, the first being Cameron Mitchell Restaurants. Another portion of the complex at 440 W. Nationwide Blvd., was redeveloped into loft condominiums.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * {{citation, title=Automobile Manufacturers of Cleveland and Ohio, 1864-1942 , first1=Frank , last1=Wrenick , first2=Elaine , last2=Wrenick , publisher= McFarland & Company , year=2016 , isbn=978-0786475353 , location=Jefferson, North Carolina

External links

Ohio History
1875 establishments in Ohio 1913 disestablishments in Ohio Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Defunct companies based in Columbus, Ohio Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio American companies disestablished in 1913 American companies established in 1875