The Automobile and the City

1893-1941

19th Century Origins of the Internal Combustion Engine

The Automobile was “European by Birth and American by Adoption”

• Etienne Lenoir

• Nicholas Otto

• Karl Benz

• Gottlieb Daimler

• Emile Constant Levassor

France, statistics on vehicles in use by year, 1899-1909 (Britannica, 1911, XVIII,920)

Year Total Vehicles in Use

1899 1,672

1900 2,897

1901 5,386

1902 9,207

1903 12,984

1904 17,107

1905 21,543

1906 26,262

1907 31,286

1908 37,586

1908 46,000

The Early 20th c. Competition Among Engine Technologies

• Steam

• Electric

• Internal Combustion (ICE)

The Rise of the American Automobile Industry

• Frank and Charles Dureya• Elwood Haynes along with Edgar and

Elmer Apperson• Hiram Maxim• Alexander Winton• Albert Pope• Ransom Olds• Henry Ford

American Motor Vehicle Production, 1899-1910

Year Number Value

1899 600 1,290,000

1903 10,576 16,000,000

1904 13,766 24,500,000

1905 20,787 42,000,000

1906 23,000 50,000,000

1907 42,694 105,000,000

1908 49,952 83,000,000

1909 114,891 135,000,000

1910 200,000 225,000,000

The Market Shifts in the Early American Automobile Industry

• Initially, the automobile was a play thing for the rich

• With the coming of Henry Ford and mass production, the automobile becomes a perceived necessity in rural areas

• After WWI and with the advent of closed steel-bodied automobiles, the market gradually shifts to city dwellers

Prior to the 1920s, American Highways were Horrendous

• Federal Legislation, 1916 and 1921• Funding largely supported by the gasoline

tax• Thomas McDonald and the Bureau of

Public Roads• An arterial system developed to link all

major cities of 50,000 or more• N-S highways odd numbers, E-W

highways, even

Autos and City Space Development During the 1920s

• Filling in the space between the fingers of development caused by the trolley lines

• Housing architecture – the California bungalow

• From carriage house to garage

Main Street, 1910

Main Street, 1925

The Parkway and the Suburb – New York City Area

• The Long Island Motor Parkway (1906-11)

• The Hutchinson River Parkway (1928)

• The Saw Mill River Parkway (1929)

• The Cross Country Parkway (1931)

Big Bridges and Far Suburbs

• Delaware River (Franklin) Between Philadelphia and Camden; Haddonfield, NJ

• George Washington Between New York and Northern New Jersey

Alfred P. Sloan and the Road Gang

• National Highway Users Conference

• National City Lines and Roy Fitzgerald

• Trolleys and Buses

• GM fined in 1949

• A Case of Technological Suppression?

What is Good for GM is What is Good for America?

The Case of Los Angeles

• The Pacific Electric “Red” car trolley system

• Decentralization taking place in LA before widespread use of the car

• Trolley disadvantages and poor service

• Inherent flexibility of the automobile – the psychological notion of “freedom”