May 17, 2012The Automobile
Located on South Main Street, just north of Harrison Street intersection
The automobile changed forever the lifestyles of the American people. Technological advances throughout the 20th century made the 2-car(and 3 and 4-car) family commonplace and brought about social changes unanticipated and unimagined by automobile pioneers.
Jamestown entrepreneurs mad several bids to join the ranks of automobile manufacturing in its fledgling years. None was successful for many reasons. Six Duquesnes were assembled about 1905, but their parts were defective and the company failed. An unknown number of Darts were also assembled, and several other ventures were attempted, some producing one car, others apparently producing none. More successful was the Birmingham auto, with about 50 being built in the plant in nearby Falconer in 1922-23. The offices for the operation were located in the Humphrey House in Brooklyn Square, the industrial and commercial center of the city of Jamestown at that time. There are no known surviving examples of any of these attempts.
Although automobile manufacturing never became an industry in Jamestown, a number of companies have manufactured automobile parts for many years. Thus, Jamestown has been a part of an industry whose impact on our society has been enormous and whose total ramifications are still to be realized.
BIRMINGHAM AUTO
ONE OF SEVERAL LOCAL ATTEMPTS TO JOIN THE RANKS OF AUTO MANUFACTURING HAD OFFICES AT THIS SITE FROM 1921 TO 1923.