Duryea Brothers Test-Drive America’s First Gas-Powered Car

On September 21, 1893, the Duryea brothers successfully tested America’s first gasoline-powered car in Massachusetts.

In the 1890s, brothers Charles and Frank Duryea made a living building bicycles in Springfield (now Chicopee), Massachusetts. In their spare time, the brothers began experimenting with motors. One day they purchased a horse-drawn buggy for $70 and fitted it with a four-horsepower single-cylinder gasoline engine. They also installed a friction transmission, spray carburetor inspired by a perfume bottle, and low tension ignition.

On or around September 21, 1893 (some sources say September 20 or 22), the brothers took their car for its first test drive in Springfield, Massachusetts. A small crowd of spectators turned out to watch the brothers demonstrate their new vehicle. It traveled a few hundred feet before coming to a sudden stop, caused by a transmission failure. Frank fixed it and the car then traveled another half a mile.

An account from the Springfield Morning Union described the event: “Residents in the vicinity of Florence Street flocked to the windows yesterday afternoon astonished to see gliding by in the roadway a common top carriage with no shafts and no horse attached. The vehicle is operated by gasoline and is the invention of Erwin Markham and J.F. Duryea… The vehicle, which was operated by Mr. Bemis, started from the corner of Hancock avenue and Spruce street and went up the avenue, up Hancock street and started down Florence street, working finely, but when about half-way down the latter street it stopped short, refusing to move. Investigation showed that the bearing had been worn smooth by the friction and a little water sprinkled upon it put it in running condition again. The rest of the trip was made down Florence and down Spruce street, to the residence of the inventors. They hope to have the vehicle in good working condition soon.” They took it for another test drive two months later, on a busier street, and attracted the attention of the local newspaper.

Two years later, Frank drove another Duryea in a race sponsored by the Chicago Times Herald. It was the first-known automobile race in America. Cars were so new, race officials didn’t know what to call them. They eventually settled on moto-cycles. The race took place on Thanksgiving Day in 38-degree weather. Only two cars finished, and Frank won the 54-mile race, averaging 7.5 miles per hour.

That win, and the $5,000 prize money, inspired the brothers to produce more cars. In 1896, the company produced 13 cars by hand, making it the largest automobile factory in the US. That year, one of the automobiles was involved in the world’s first car accident, when a motorist hit a bicyclist and broke the cyclist’s leg. The driver spent the night in jail.

Frank Duryea got out of the auto business around 1900 and began producing guns. Charles moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, and continued to make cars. The citizens of the town got used to seeing him testing the durability and handling of new models on the switchback roads of nearby Mount Penn.

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