Founded in Kansas City, Missouri in 1908, the American Automobile Manufacturing Company acquired the Jonz Automobile Company of Beatrice, Nebraska in 1910 with a planned initial capitalization of $1,000,000. In early news releases, the company claimed "$100,000 of the stock has been subscribed for by Chicago and Kansas City men". Initial plans called for the establishment of factories in Kansas City and Louisville, Kentucky. [1]
The company settled on moving its offices to Louisville, Kentucky in December, 1910, and began manufacturing in an abandoned woolen mill across the Ohio River from Louisville in New Albany, Indiana. [2] The factory buildings were two and three stories in height, located on a six-acre tract on Vincennes Street in New Albany. The factory was reported in 1914 to be "one of the very largest factories in the state of Indiana... and is equipped with machinery, tools, raw materials, parts and accessories for the manufacture of motor cars." [3]
Promising huge potential profits, the company sold stock using catalogs, pamphlets and an extensive magazine and newspaper ad campaign reaching as far as Great Britain. The company did produce a limited number of cars which were marketed as the Jonz (automobile), named after the "Jonz Tranquil Motor" developed by the three Jones brothers in Kansas. The American Automobile Manufacturing Company built the two-stroke engine "American" from 1911 to 1912 in New Albany.
American Automobile Corporation went bankrupt, and Ferdinand N. Kahler purchased its assets, forming the Ohio Falls Motor Company, largely to protect the assets of his woodworking business, The Kahler Company. [4]
New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The population was 36,372 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Floyd County. It is bounded by I-265 to the north and the Ohio River to the south, and is considered part of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. The mayor of New Albany is Jeff Gahan, a Democrat; he was re-elected in 2019.
Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the firm was originally a coachbuilder, manufacturing wagons, buggies, carriages and harnesses.
Maxwell was a brand of automobiles manufactured in the United States of America from about 1904 to 1925. The present-day successor to the Maxwell company is Stellantis.
Chalmers Motor Company was an American car company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. It started in 1908 and continued production of high-end vehicles until 1923 when it merged with Chrysler.
The Stutz Motor Car Company of America, Inc., was an American producer of high-end sports and luxury cars based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Production began in 1911 and ended in 1935.
The Lexington was an automobile manufactured in Connersville, Indiana, from 1910 to 1927. From the beginning, Lexingtons, like most other Indiana-built automobiles, were assembled cars, built with components from many different suppliers. The Thoroughbred Six and Minute Man Six were popular Lexington models.
The Kentucky & Indiana Bridge is one of the first multi modal bridges to cross the Ohio River. It is for both railway and common roadway purposes together. By federal, state, and local law railway and streetcar, wagon-way, and pedestrian modes of travel were intended by the City of New Albany, City of Louisville, State of Kentucky, State of Indiana, the United States Congress, and the bridge owners. The K & I Bridge connects Louisville, Kentucky to New Albany, Indiana. Constructed from 1881 to 1885 by the Kentucky and Indiana Bridge Company, the original K&I Bridge opened in 1886. It included a single standard gauge track and two wagon ways, allowing wagons and other animal powered vehicles to cross the Ohio River by a method other than ferry for the first time. At the time motorized vehicles were virtually nonexistent. The K&I Bridge company also owned a ferry boat operation during both the 1st and 2nd bridge; eventually that operation was sold as the bridge's success largely outmoded boat usage.
The De Luxe was an American automobile manufactured in 1907 by the De Luxe Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan Country Life in America, February 1907, p. 456)]. The De Luxe was a high-priced vehicle for its day, retailing for around $5000. De Luxe took over the factory belonging to the Kirk Manufacturing Company, maker of the Yale automobile in Toledo, Ohio, in 1906. Soon after De Luxe moved to a brand new facility on a 15-acre (61,000 m2) site on Clark Street at Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. After producing fewer than 100 cars in 1908, the company was acquired by the E-M-F Company in 1909. The factory was used by E-M-F to build the Flanders 20. E-M-F was acquired by Studebaker in 1910, who continued to produce automobiles in Detroit until its operations were moved to South Bend, Indiana, in the 1920s.
The Lambert Automobile Company was a 300,000-square-foot (28,000 m2) automobile factory in Anderson, Indiana to make the Lambert automobile through the Buckeye Manufacturing Company.
The Dixie Flyer was an automobile built in Louisville, Kentucky from 1916 until 1923. Dixie Flyers were marketed under the slogan of "The Logical Car." They may be classified as Brass Era cars or vintage cars.
The Louisville Assembly Plant is an automobile manufacturing plant owned by Ford Motor Company in Louisville, Kentucky. The 3,154,173-square-foot (293,032.3 m2) plant on 180 acres opened in 1955 and currently employs a total of 4,554 people. It is located adjacent to the Louisville International Airport on the south side of the city. Ford also operates another plant in Louisville, Kentucky Truck Assembly. The plant houses approximately 20.1 miles (32.3 km) of conveyor belts.
The Buckeye Manufacturing Company was a company originally formed to manufacture horse drawn buggy parts.
The Buckeye gasoline buggy also known as the Lambert gasoline buggy was America's first practical gasoline automobile made that was capable of being driven on roads. It was also the first available car for sale in America. It was initially a three wheel horseless buggy that was propelled by an internal combustion gasoline engine. This later was developed into a four wheel automobile that was mass-produced during the first part of the twentieth century. This was expanded into a line of trucks and fire-engines. The Lambert line of automobiles was manufactured with a gearless transmission.
The Lambert Gas and Gasoline Engine Company was a company founded by John William Lambert in the later part of the nineteenth century as part of the conglomerate of the Buckeye Manufacturing Company.
Ferdinand Nickolas 'Ferd' Kahler, Sr. was an American inventor, entrepreneur and automobile pioneer who founded The Kahler Co. in New Albany, Indiana.
The Ford Motor Company - Columbus Assembly Plant was located at 427 Cleveland Avenue, Columbus, Ohio. As a branch assembly plant of the Ford Motor Company, beginning in 1914 it assembled the Ford Model T automobile.
The Vesta Battery Corporation (1897–1964), known until 1929 as the Vesta Accumulator Company, was an American manufacturer of automobile electrical gear. Based in Chicago, Illinois, the company was founded by a former garment worker in 1897. Originally intending to sell parts for electric bicycles, the company quickly diversified to manufacture electrical goods for the burgeoning automobile industry. At its peak, the company had branches in ten American cities. Vesta continued operations until it was purchased by Associated Battery Makers in 1964. Its 1913 factory in Chicago is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
![]() | This article about a brass-era automobile produced between 1905 and 1915 is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
![]() | This Louisville metro area-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |