The Stacy Building is a historic building at 41-43 Taylor Street in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

, in the district of Metro Center known as the

Club Quarter The Entertainment District is located in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the Metro Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, Metro Center district surrounding historic Stearns Square. Stearns Square is bordered by Worthington Street to the north and Bridg ...

. On September 20, 1893, Springfielders

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

and

Frank Duryea James Frank Duryea (October 8, 1869 – February 15, 1967) and his brother Charles (1861–1938) invented the first gasoline-powered automobile in America. Biography The brothers were born in Illinois, Charles in Canton, Illinois, in 1861 and Fr ...

road-tested the first-ever American-built,

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 organic co ...

-powered

car 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 regarded as ...

in Springfield, which they had built at the Stacy Building. The first Duryea Motor Wagons were all built by hand at the Stacy Building on Taylor Street in Springfield. Despite the September 20 road-test on Howard Bemis's Springfield farm, the ''

Springfield Republican ''The Republican'' is a newspaper based in Springfield, Massachusetts covering news in the Greater Springfield area, as well as national news and pieces from Boston, Worcester and northern Connecticut. It is owned by Newhouse Newspapers, a ...

'' newspaper did get the story until the Duryea brothers' 2nd public road-test on November 10, 1893. In 1895, the Duryea Motor Wagon won America's first-ever road race - a 54-mile race from

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

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

, beating out European companies like

Daimler Benz The Mercedes-Benz Group Aktiengesellschaft, AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It ...

. Following this, demand for Duryea automobiles soared. In 1896, the Duryea Motor Wagon Company became the first company to manufacture and sell gasoline-powered automobiles. The Duryea Brothers produced thirteen cars by hand in the company's first year - all at the Stacy Building. The company's motto was "there is no better motorcar." Immediately, Duryeas were purchased by luminaries of the time, including George Vanderbilt. Two months after buying one of the first, manufactured cars - New York City motorist Henry Wells hit a bicyclist with his new Duryea; the rider suffered a broken leg, Wells spent a night in jail, and the United States' first traffic accident was recorded. Outside of the Stacy Building - in what is now (as then) Springfield's

- next to what is currently the popular Alumni Club at 90 Worthington Street, there is a model of an 1893 Duryea Motor Wagon - mere feet from the Stacy Building, where the Duryea Brothers invented and manufactured their history-changing machine.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Springfield, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Springfield, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Springfield, Massachusetts

See also

References