One of the highlights of auctions for me is stumbling across history of the contributions of black people to this country. I react with sheer joy because much of it was never written or was lost or was stolen as another’s own or just disappeared.

I made a discovery earlier this week that absolutely thrilled me. I was attending the African American fine arts auction at the Swann Auction Galleries in New York, sitting at a table waiting for a staffer to bring me a James Van Der Zee photograph of a Valentine tea party from the 1920s. I looked up and spotted a fading advertising poster with an antique car on it. 

I love antique cars so I was intrigued. The staffer couldn’t find the photo – it was actually hanging on a wall in the gallery – so I asked to see the poster. The photo of the poster below is from the Swann website.

“The Patterson-Greenfield Automobile”

“Made in Two Models for Roadster and Touring Car”

The first and only black car manufacturer near the turn of the century! You’re kidding me! But there it was.

I have come across magazine ads for antique cars at many of my auctions. A couple weeks ago, I blogged about a set of old car ads from the pages of Time magazine from the early 1900s.  A month or so ago, one of my favorite auction houses sold old Rolls Royce trophies from 1927.

But never had I come across an ad for this car or even heard of the company. I was in car heaven. Swann had described the poster as ”Printed pictorial poster on heavy cardstock. 12×10 inches. Circa 1916-1920. Estimated sale: $3,500-$5,000.”

C.R. Patterson, Son & Company was also the country’s first African American carriage-builder in the late 1800s. Patterson’s background is sketchy, and where he was born and the date of the origin of his company vary depending on who you read.

Here’s what I found, though: Charles Richard Patterson was born in slavery in West Virginia (or Virginia) and is believed to have worked with the plantation’s blacksmith in the smithworks and wagon repair shop, according to the website CoachBuilt. He fled slavery in the 1860s and eventually settled in Greenfield, OH, which was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Patterson was hired as a blacksmith for Greenfield’s first coach and wagon-maker Dines & Simpson, and eventually became its foreman. In the late 1800s, he bought out another carriage-builder and renamed the company C.R. Patterson, Son & Co., making horse-drawn carriages and buggies. The name was changed to Sons when a second son, Frederick Douglass Patterson (no connection to the famed abolitionist), joined the company after the father became ill. 

According to CoachBuilt, the company produced 28 types of vehicles, with prices from $120 to $150 each. Patterson’s buggy was the most popular item and was sold in the South and the Midwest. The company advertised in two black publications - The Crisis (founded in 1910) and Alexander’s Magazine (published from 1905-1909 in Boston).

Frederick Patterson got the idea to go into horseless carriages during a trip at the turn of the century, according to CoachBuilt. Later, when asked why, he said: “In 1902, there was one car to 65,000 people and by 1909 there was one vehicle for every 800 people and with those kinds of figures … I believe it’s time for us to build a Patterson horseless carriage.”

It’s not clear when the company actually began making automobiles. Some accounts say it was 1902, others say 1915. If his quote above is correct, it may have been closer to 1915. The company may have built cars until 1919.

Here’s an account from CoachBuilt (which has some photos of the Patterson car, family members and advertising documents):

“Development of an automobile began in 1914 and the first Patterson-Greenfield rolled out of the company’s Washington St. facility on Sept. 23, 1915. Priced at $850, the Patterson-Greenfield was offered as a touring or roadster and featured a 30hp Continental 4-cylinder engine, full floating rear axle, cantilever springs, demountable rims, electric starting and lighting and a split windshield for ventilation. “

The company is said to also have built a four-door touring car, as noted in the auction poster. It made from 30 to 150 cars. Near its end, it made school buses, trucks, moving vans and hearses. The company closed in the 1930s, and apparently, none of the cars have survived.

As for the auction poster, it sold for $5,200. Someone got a great piece of history.

Related posts:

1. New cars then and now
2. Want to buy a Rolls Royce trophy?
3. Black women artists at fine art auction
4. Missing: Vintage black baby greeting cards
5. Long road to a black (Disney) Princess