The Halladay Motor Car company was founded in 1905 in

Streator, Illinois Streator is a city in LaSalle and Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately southwest of Chicago in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. As of the 2020 censu ...

, and moved to

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

in 1917.

Origins

The company originated with the Erie Motor Carriage & Manufacturing Company in

Anderson, Indiana Anderson, named after Chief William Anderson, is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison County. Anderson ...

, which was bought out in 1902 by Lou P. Halladay. He spent a year earning $30,000 in capital, then renamed the company the Streator Automobile & and Manufacturing Company. The company kept this name until 1913.

Streator Automobile & and Manufacturing Company

The first car came out in 1904 with great secrecy. It was a five-passenger touring car with a four-cylinder engine. The engines came from the

Rutenber Motor Company The Rutenber Motor Company was established as the Rutenber Manufacturing Company in Chicago, Illinois, United States, to manufacture a four-cylinder engine to the design of Edwin Rutenber. History Rutenber studied the trade of mechanics and, ...

. In 1908, the company added a runabout and a

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...

. About 900 cars were made every year. The cars were well-built. In 1910, a Halladay was the only car to finish a 250-mile race in Atlanta. On September 23, 1911, the company fell into receivership, with $250,000 in liabilities. In January 1913, the company's property was sold to the Merchants' Realization Company, which then sold it to Albert C. Barley, the secretary of the Rutenber Motor Company.

Models

Under Albert Barley

While under Albert Barley, he named the company Barley Motor Car Company, but still produced the Halladay. After a while, he lost interest in the Halladay, so in 1916 he sold the Halladay to a group of investors headed by T. E. Huth, while he made a new car called the Roamer.

In Ohio

In 1917, the group of investors kept making the Halladay, now in

Warren, Ohio Warren is a city in and the county seat of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. Located in northeastern Ohio, Warren lies approximately northwest of Youngstown and southeast of Cleveland. The population was 39,201 at the 2020 census. The hi ...

. They changed the name to Halladay Motor Car Company. They still used a six-cylinder engine provided by Rutenber. The cars were advertised as "sturdy, compact, and low-upkeep". In 1920, the company was moved to

Newark, Ohio Newark ( ) is a city serving as the county seat of Licking County, Ohio, United States, east of Columbus, at the junction of the forks of the Licking River. The population was 49,934 at the 2020 census, which makes it the 15th largest city in O ...

, where the name was changed to Halladay Motors Corporation. In 1922, the company tried to make a 4-cylinder car called the Falcon, but in March, the company went into receivership again. This was because of charges from the Barber Asphalt Paving Company of Pennsylvania, which had not been paid for work done around the Newark plant. This time, Halladay went out of business.

References

{{reflist Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Illinois Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Halladay automobile Halladay automobile Cars introduced in 1905 1900s cars 1910s cars Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1905 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1922 Brass Era vehicles Vintage vehicles 1905 establishments in Illinois