On September 27, 1908, the first Ford Model T left the factory. Henry Ford’s Model T changed the transportation industry by supplying affordable cars to everyone at $850 per car as opposed to $1,000-$2,000 from other manufacturers. Ford accomplished this by developing assembly line manufacturing which speeded up production and, in turn, helped lower prices.
Nebraskans were no different than the rest of the world when it came to an interest in automobiles. A number of them tried their hand at designing and/or building their own motor vehicles. Some were big and bulky as you can see in this image of the
M.H. Miller vehicle, from the
Townsend Collection.
Others were sleek
and racy, such as the car shown in these images with just its
chassis and then the
completed vehicle in front of Central Auto
Repair and Machine Works from the Townsend Collection. In addition, to manufacturing companies and auto repair shops, other automobile-related businesses opened, too, such as dealerships, services stations, automobile associations, etc.
W.L Huffman Auto Company was one of many car dealerships that sprang up around the state to sell these new machines—and not just those from the big three American automobile companies that are around today. This dealership, for example, sold Hupmobiles and Detroit Electric cars as shown in this
photograph from the Townsend Collection.
And people had fun with their new vehicles—using them for racing, endurance tests, or decorating them for parades—like this
Decorated automobile image from the
Nebraska State Historical Society Collection. To see many more automobile and automobile-related images, check out Nebraska Memories.
Visit
Nebraska Memories to search for or browse through many more historical images digitized from photographs, negatives, postcards, maps, lantern slides, books and other materials.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see
http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information, or contact
Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director,
or
Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.
