I thought it would be interesting to see who had the first licensed automobiles in Marion, Illinois in the early days of cars.
Self-propelled vehicles large enough to transport people and cargo were first invented in the late 1700’s in France and eventually gave way to the experimentation of combustible engines in the 1800’s which were hampered early on by a lack of burnable fuels.
This was in a time before oil exploration and refining processes were known, so early experimenters toyed with using hydrogen gas and other mixtures.
Oddly enough, electric cars had a turn in the 1800’s but were limited and didn’t prove reliable enough.
After the oil refinement process became a given, the race was on by literally dozens, if not hundreds, of vehicle manufacturers around the world to dominate the transportation industry.
At the turn of the century, it wouldn’t have been uncommon to see vehicles operating on steam, electric or fuels of various types.
All vehicles were made one at a time by hand and were out of the reach of the common man until the mass production of Henry Ford’s Model T.
The Model T was introduced on October 1, 1908. It had the steering wheel on the left, which every other company soon copied. The entire engine and transmission were enclosed; the four cylinders were cast in a solid block; the suspension used two semi-elliptic springs.
The car was very simple to drive, and easy and cheap to repair. It was cheap, at $825 in 1908, and the price fell every year so that by the 1920s, a majority of American drivers had learned to drive on the Model T.
Most vehicles produced from around 1905 through 1914 were considered part of the Brass or Edwardian Era of vehicles due to the widespread use of brass parts on them.
Marion’s Licensed Automobiles
In the period examined, there were only three vehicles licensed by Illinois in Marion. They belonged to Charles A. Gent, Hosea W. Cagle and Charles C. Stone.
Charles Gent was a mover and shaker in Marion. He held a substantial amount of real estate in the city and county, the Gent Addition to Marion being named after him. In 1907, Charles would have been 27 years old and President of Marion Pressed Brick Company. He was also co-owner in a clothing, dry goods store named Gent-Willeford located at 301 Public Square in the bottom floor of the Charles H. Denison Building where the Bank of Marion now stands with an office upstairs where he operated his Pittsburg Development Company. He lived at 301 S. Market St. in 1907 and owned a Reo automobile. Fifty two percent of the Reo Olds Motor Car Company was owned by Olds in 1906 and later split off to become Oldsmobile, Reo continued until 1975. This was definitely a brass era vehicle.
Hosea W. Cagle was primarily a carpenter/contractor and was 33 years old in 1907. He and his wife Delia lived at 504 E. DeYoung St. in 1907 but by the 1910 census were at 506 E. Boulevard St. Hosea owned a vehicle called an Elmore. Elmore’s were made in Ohio from 1893 until 1912. They were a brass era vehicle that used a 2 stroke engine design not unlike a weed eater that uses mixed oil and gas. They were usually only one or two cylinder vehicles.
Charles C. Stone was a plumber by trade who in 1907 owned a store location at 409 N. Market St. named Southern Illinois Plumbing and Heating Company. His residence was listed at 214 N. Market, which was likely a single room apartment over J.B. Heyde’s store. Charles registered a Ford but it doesn’t indicate what type. My suspicion is that it was a Model T purchased in late 1908 that he probably used for work. If it was purchased prior to this, it wouldn’t have been mass produced and would have been one of Ford’s earlier vehicles that would out of necessity been considerably more expensive to buy.
See also, 1907 Licensed Automobiles in Southern Illinois
(Data extracted from 1907 Sec. of State Auto Licenses; Wikipedia; Marion City Directories; Federal Census Records; compiled by Sam Lattuca 04/28/2013)