Power About Duryea
The Duryea Motor Wagon Company, established in 1895, was the first American firm to build gasoline automobiles.
Founded by Charles Duryea and his brother Frank, they built a one-cylinder "Ladies Phaeton", first demonstrated on September 21, 1893 at Springfield, Massachusetts. According to the Springfield newspaper, it was driven from a barn at 52 Spruce St. down to Florence St.
It is considered the first successful gas-engine vehicle built in the U.S. In 1895, a second Duryea (built in 1894), driven by Frank, won the Chicago Times Herald race in Chicago on a snowy Thanksgiving day. He travelled 54 miles (87km) at an average 7.5 mph (12 km/h), marking the first U.S. auto race in which any entrants finished. That same year, the brothers began production, with thirteen cars sold by the end of 1896.
An early Duryea advertisement explains to incredulous readers that the vehicle "actually operated under its own propulsion." The brothers went their separate ways by the end of the century. Frank helped produce the Stevens-Duryea (at gun maker Stevens), while Charles produced Duryea vehicles as late as 1917.
