C.R. Patterson and Sons

Last updated
C.R. Patterson and Sons
FormerlyJ. P. Lowe & Company;
C.R. Patterson, Son & Company;
C.R. Patterson and Sons Carriage Company
IndustryAutomotive manufacturing company
Founded1893 (1893)
Founder Frederick Patterson
Defunct1939 (1939)
SuccessorGreenfield Bus Body Company;
Gallia Body Company
Headquarters Greenfield, Ohio, US
Key people
ProductsPatterson-Greenfield automobile

C.R. Patterson and Sons was an American automotive company headquartered in Greenfield, Ohio and for one year in Gallia, Ohio; [1] founded by Frederick Douglas Patterson and named after his father Charles "Rich" Richard Patterson. [1]

Contents

The Pattersons were the first African Americans to manufacture automobiles, their company manufacturing and marketing the Patterson-Greenfield automobile for model years 1914-17 with overall production reaching 150 [2] — none known to have survived. [3]

As the only known black-owned automakers, founded by a former slave, operating during a period of cultural oppression, successful for three generations, Charles Richard Patterson and Frederick Patterson were inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2021. [2]

History

Precursors

Charles Richard Patterson Charles Richard Patterson em data desconhecida.png
Charles Richard Patterson

Charles "Rich" Richard Patterson (1833–1910) founded precursor companies to C.R. Patterson and Sons. [4] [5] [6] Patterson was born — a slave [2] — in 1833 to Charles and Nancy Patterson of Virginia. The family moved to Ohio between 1841 and 1842. They were listed in the 1850 census in Greenfield, Ohio, which was a busy station on the underground railroad. [4] [7] He initially worked at Dines and Simpson Carriage and Coach Makers Company, and learned blacksmithing. [1]

Charles Patterson partnered with a local carriage builder, J.P. Lowe, a white man, and they created J.P. Lowe & Company in 1873. [4] [6] [3] By 1888, the business employed 10 people, which was considered successful for its time. [3] The United States was experiencing the Panic of 1893, a financial crisis, and business was suffering. [3]

Patterson bought Lowe's shares and to mark the inclusion of his son Samuel renamed the company C.R. Patterson, Son in 1893. [4] [6] Samuel Patterson became ill in 1897, and died in 1899. [6] The eldest son Frederick Douglas Patterson moved home to help with the business.

By 1900, the company was producing 28 different horse-drawn carriage styles including buggies, backboards, phaetons, surreys, and the popular doctor's buggy. [8] They had 50 employees, and were able to manufacture approximately 500 horse-drawn carriages a year. [8]

Automobile manufacturing

After Charles Patterson's death in 1910, his son, Frederick Douglas Patterson, took over the carriage business aiming to manufacture their own "horseless carriage," [4] initially offering local automotive service. [1] On September 23, 1915, the first C.R. Patterson and Sons automobile was assembled, a two-door coupe. [4] The first cars were sold for $685, with additional reports of the car selling for $850 (or $17,741 to $22,014 adjusted for inflation in 2021). [1] [4] [3]

Bus and truck manufacturing

1923 Greenfield bus advertisement 1923 Greenfield bus advertisement.jpg
1923 Greenfield bus advertisement

In 1918, C.R. Patterson & Sons halted their auto production and concentrated once again on the repair side of the business. [1] By the 1920s, they started focusing on building and designing truck and bus bodies, which were fitted to chassis made by other manufactures. [1] The company was renamed Greenfield Bus Body Company. Frederick Douglas Patterson died in 1932, and his son Postell Patterson (1906–1981) took over the business. [9]

Most of the bus bodies were purchased by school boards in Southern Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky, as well as the Ohio Transit Company and used in Cincinnati and Cleveland. [3]

In 1938, the company was reorganized under the name Gallia Body Company and the headquarters moved to Gallia, Ohio. [6] Unable to raise enough money, the company closed in 1939. [1] [9]

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "The Only African American Automobile Company". National Museum of African American History and Culture. Smithsonian. 2017-10-11. Archived from the original on 2018-11-28. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  2. 1 2 3 Larry Printz (December 22, 2024). "The one-and-only known Black-owned American automaker". Autoblog.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Printz, Larry (2021-03-10). "From buggies to buses, the first Black-owned US automaker did what few others dared". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2021-03-10. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Charles R. Patterson, Inventor born". African American Registry. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  5. ↑ "The Patterson Automobile". Historical Society of Greenfield, Ohio. Archived from the original on 2020-06-28. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Berk, Brett (2019-02-15). "The Only African American Automaker Started as a Coachbuilder". Car and Driver. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  7. ↑ "C.R. Patterson and Sons: The First and Only African-American Automobile Company". Your AAA Network. 2020-02-03. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  8. 1 2 Smith, Jessie Carney (2006). Encyclopedia of African American Business: A-J. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 646. ISBN   978-0-313-33110-7.
  9. 1 2 Theobald, Mark (2004). "Greenfield Bus Body Co., C.R. Patterson & Sons, Peterson-Greenfield, J.P. Lowe & Co., Frederick D. Patterson, Charles R. Peterson, Black Auto Mfr". Coachbult.com. Archived from the original on 2006-05-09. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.