432 First Street was built in 1914 for the White-King Motor Company. It’s also been home to Work Clothes Unlimited, Bill’s Furniture, and Thompson’s Furniture.
City’s first auto dealership building was built in 1914 by Frank Boyett
Consider this the automotive issue of Yesterday’s News; most of what I’m talking about in this column has to do with cars.
What apparently was Henderson’s first building designed and built as an auto dealership dates from 1914. And it still stands at the corner of First and Ingram Streets. It took a while for the automobile to gain traction here, either through a lack of money or an inherent love for the horse. Keep in mind that Henderson had been a major manufacturer of quality buggies and wagons for many years by the time the automobile rolled on the scene, probably around 1900-02.
A decade later there were probably not more than 100 or 150 motor vehicles in the county, although that number was starting to rapidly grow. People were beginning to see the automobile as a piece of useful technology, not a rich man’s toy or a fad.
Not every attempt to cash in was successful. The Park Machine Co. began manufacturing a model called the Park Runabout in 1909. A July 16, 1909, article in the Henderson Daily Journal that proclaimed, First auto built in Henderson, said the prototype had just been successfully tested and initial plans were to build 100 of them, in both three- and four passenger models.
Park Machine is still with us, but apparently the prototype was the only one ever built.
Five years later, in the Oct. 15, 1914, edition, the Journal announced a new building was planned just down the block from Park Machine. John Delker was erecting it for White-King Motor Co., which planned to sell Fords, Hupmobiles and associated cars.
Messrs. White and King are finding a lively demand for their machines and they were not long in comprehending that the modern building was necessary for their business.
The Park Garage Co. (as it was known in 1914) was also in the news in mid-October because manager J.T. Dawson had obtained the dealership franchise for Maxwells, a forerunner of Chryslers, which in the early days of the automotive age were pretty well thought of. In 1914, the big three were Buick, Ford and Maxwell.
This car has made a hit all over the country, Dawson proclaimed in an advertisement Oct. 14. Price within reach of all. Fully equipped, nothing to buy. (Train) car load coming at once. My friends will make a mistake if they buy before seeing me.
The Journal of Oct. 28, 1914, carries the first advertisement for local car rentals I’ve seen: Auto for hire by day or hour. Reasonable rate. Rudy-Rowland Co. Both phones 185. Henderson had two telephone companies at that time and a well-connected citizen needed to subscribe to both.
Also, the first mention I’ve seen of local car theft appears in the Journal of Oct. 2, 1914, although it involved a young man from Providence. He wanted an automobile so bad he stole one, screamed the headline.
The fellow’s name was John Jordan and he apparently had been dazzling the Webster County residents with a flashy touring car until he was presented with a warrant for his arrest. He allegedly stole the car in Chicago and drove it to Webster County. The Chicago chief of police sent a telegram asking for his arrest.
As one age was dawning, another was ending. A new bridge for Second Street across Canoe Creek replaced in October what had been the county’s last covered bridge, according to the Oct. 19 issue. The old bridge had stood for more than 50 years and was considered to be very dangerous before it was torn away.
The steel and concrete replacement cost the city $3,566 and measured 18 feet wide, not including a walkway 5 feet wide. It was 80 feet long and is one of the best and most substantial bridges in the county. It was to open at the end of the month after the concrete had cured.
I’m sure that article would have been useful to Paul Atkinson of Fort Thomas, who 50 years later was gathering information about the state’s covered bridges, according to a Gleaner article of Oct. 4, 1964.
This will be the first book devoted entirely to these spans in Kentucky, the story said. The author is looking for ANY information on these wooden bridges either standing or ones which have been replaced.
By 1964, the story said, there were only 19 of them left in the state, when back before the turn of the century there were hundreds and more being built. They were erected in Kentucky until as late as 1924.
Atkinson apparently never got around to writing his book, but he did co-found the Kentucky Covered Bridge Association in 1964, according to the book Kentucky’s Covered Bridges.
References:
Henderson Evening Journal • Thu, Oct 15, 1914
The Gleaner • Sun, Oct 05, 2014