Merrimac is a small town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, and on the southeastern border of New Hampshire, approximately 34 miles (55 km) northeast of Boston and 10 miles (16 km) west of the Atlantic Ocean. It was incorporated on April 11, 1876. It is situated along the north bank of the Merrimack River in the Merrimack Valley. The population was 6,338 at the 2010 census. Historically a manufacturing center, it has long since become a largely residential community. It is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area.
The Merrimack River is a 117-mile-long (188 km) river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Massachusetts, and then flows northeast until it empties into the Gulf of Maine at Newburyport. From Pawtucket Falls in Lowell, Massachusetts, onward, the Massachusetts–New Hampshire border is roughly calculated as the line three miles north of the river.
The Locomobile Company of America was a pioneering American automobile manufacturer founded in 1899, and known for its dedication to precision in the pre-assembly-line era. It was one of the earliest car manufacturers in the advent of the automobile age. For the first two years after its founding, the company was located in Watertown, Massachusetts. Production was transferred to Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1900, where it remained until the company's demise in 1929. The company manufactured affordable, small steam cars until 1903, when production switched entirely to internal combustion-powered luxury automobiles. Locomobile was taken over in 1922 by Durant Motors and eventually went out of business in 1929. All cars ever produced by the original company were always sold under the brand name Locomobile.
William Crapo "Billy" Durant was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, who created a system in which a company held multiple marques - each seemingly independent, with different automobile lines - bound under a unified corporate holding company. Durant, along with Frederic L. Smith, co-founded General Motors, as well as Chevrolet with Louis Chevrolet. He also founded Frigidaire.
The Brass Era is an American term for the early period of automotive manufacturing, named for the prominent brass fittings used during this time for such things as lights and radiators. It is generally considered to encompass 1896 through 1915, a time when these vehicles were often referred to as horseless carriages.
A coachbuilder, or body-maker, manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. Coachwork is the body of an automobile, bus, horse-drawn carriage, or railroad passenger car. The word "coach" was derived from the Hungarian town of Kocs.
The Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region along the Merrimack River in the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The Merrimack is one of the larger waterways in the New England region and has helped define the livelihood and culture of those living along it since native times.
The Rauch & Lang Carriage Company was an American electric automobile manufactured in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1905 to 1920 and Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, from 1920-1932.
Stearns Steam Carriage Company (1901–1904) was a manufacturer of steam automobiles in Syracuse, New York, founded by Edward C. Stearns, an industrialist. Stearns built his first automobile in 1899, an electric which sold so few models through 1900 that the firm changed to steam power in 1901 when the company was incorporated. The company was also known as the Stearns Automobile Company.
Iroquois Motor Car Company (1903–1907) was a manufacturer of automobiles in Syracuse, New York, and later, Seneca Falls, New York. The company was founded by John S. Leggett as Leggett Carriage Company and originally specialized in the production of automobile bodies.
During the years 1884 through 1934 there were a total of twenty different automobile makes in Syracuse, New York. Manufacturing was not limited to passenger cars as there were several trucks and motorcycles built in the city as well.
The Briggs Carriage Company is a historic industrial complex at 14 and 20 Cedar Street in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Built before 1890, these two buildings are a surviving reminder of the city's late 19th century prominence as a major carriage manufacturing center. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Briggs Manufacturing was a Detroit-based manufacturer of automobile bodies for Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation and other U.S. and European automobile manufacturers.
John B Judkins Company of West Amesbury, Massachusetts, carriage and automobile body manufacturers built their first automobiles in the 1890s. Amesbury, since re-named Merrimac, was an early center of American carriage-building.
The Merrimac Hat Company was a prominent manufacturer of hats from the 1860s until the 1950s, employing up to 500 people in its manufacturing facilities in Amesbury, Massachusetts and another 1,500 in facilities from Alabama to Nova Scotia. Vintage hats of the Merrimac Hat Company are displayed at the Salisbury Point Railroad & Hat Museum in Amesbury.
Biddle and Smart was a manufacturer of carriages and then automobile bodies based in Amesbury, Massachusetts. It started as a successful carriage manufacturer before making the transition to auto body manufacturer in 1905.
S.R. Bailey & Company was an American manufacturer of electric automobiles from 1905 until 1916. They were based in Amesbury, Massachusetts, an early capital of automobile manufacture prior to the Great Depression.
