The Carriage Trade
Subtitle: Making Horse-Drawn Vehicles in America (Studies in Industry and Society)
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: September 8, 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 400
ISBN-13: 9780801879463
Subjects: Road vehicle manufacturing industry; c 1800 to c 1900; c 1900 - c 1914; United States - 19th Century; Technology & Industrial Arts; Transportation; USA; United States - General; History / United States / General; History; General; Carriage industry; United States
First sentence: WHEN THE ORGANIZERS of the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition arranged the layout of the buildings and grounds for the 1876 extravaganza, they put the American carriage industry in a wooden annex behind the glass-sheathed Main Exhibition Building.
Description: "In 1926 the Carriage Builders National Association met for the last time, signaling the automobile's final triumph over the horse-drawn carriage. In the previous century, carriages and wagons had been a common sight on every Main Street in America, and carriage building had stood as one of the largest and most dynamic industries in the country."

"In this study of a forgotten trade, Thomas A. Kinney traces the rise and fall of this heterogeneous industry, from the pre-industrial shop system to the coming of the automobile. Using as case studies Studebaker; Brewster & Company, the New York-based luxury carriage maker; and dozens of smeller firms from around the country, he also explores the experiences of the carriage and wagon worker over the life of the industry. Deeply researched and strikingly original, this study contributes a vivid chapter to the story of America's industrial revolution."--Jacket.