America’s first transportation industry
included more than a million different variations and sizes of vehicles. If that sounds a bit far-fetched, consider
the fact that, at one time, Studebaker claimed to have offered over 500
different sizes and configurations of farm wagons alone! Add to that the fact that most of the tens of
thousands of known vehicle builders had their own way of doing things with
every vehicle they made and it’s easy to see how the math can quickly add up
over a couple of centuries. Overall,
it’s just part of the reason that any serious study of America’s early vehicles
can be challenging at best.
Among the diversity of wheels used in
the Old West were a host of city transports.
Drays, grocery wagons, business wagons, carts, beer wagons, ladder
wagons, police vehicles, and an entire host of other specialized designs not
only dominated the eastern cities but also quickly made their way west. Among the custom creations used was a special
configuration for city transit and hotel hospitality. It was referred to as the Omnibus.
Don Berkebile in his book, Carriage Terminology: An Historical
Dictionary, defines an omnibus as a “public street vehicle intended to
carry a large number of persons.” He further
outlined features including longitudinal seats, paneled sides, and a rear door
allowing easy ingress and egress.
Ultimately, it’s a vehicle purpose and basic design need that’s still in
use today. In fact, it’s where we get
the term ‘bus’ to begin with.
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This extremely rare, original manufacturer photo shows an omnibus built by Andrew Wight. It’s another example of the kind of scarce history preserved in the Wheels That Won The West® Archives. |
Often graced with elaborate lettering
and ornamentation, these large, early ‘buses’ were built in different
sizes. Many were designed for around a
dozen passengers while, perhaps, the largest one in America measured thirty-six
feet long and was reported to have a capacity of 120 passengers (talk about a
stretch limo!) Some double-decker
omnibuses were also used in the U.S. but even more so in England. Another note of interest is that advertising
messages for businesses eventually found their way onto many of these vehicles
– just as buses and city cabs still incorporate today. Again and again, we see how much our modern
society has been affected by ideas and designs originally drawn by horses.
So, where did the concept for an omnibus
come from? The August 1895 issue of The Hub – picking up an article from
London-based Cornhill Magazine – indicates
that this style of vehicle had its origins with the French...
The ‘germ’ of the omnibus was of course an old one,
and was to be found in the various ‘stages,’ coaches and diligences, where a
number of persons were conveyed long distances in one common vehicle. Mr. Charles Knight, indeed, recalls some
experiments made in the year 1800, when a lumbering vehicle running on six
wheels and drawn by four horses was plying in London for short distances, but
was not very successful. An old Irish
reminiscent also ‘minded the time’ when a stage of similar character, on eight wheels,
worked in 1792 between Dublin and Seapoint, a suburb about four miles off. There was here a boarding-house or hotel of
some fashion, where Charles Matthews was fond of staying. The truth is, however, that we owe the
invention to our so-called ‘lively neighbors.’
A retired officer named Baudry, living at Nantes, had established baths
at Richebourg, which, he found, were patronized not so extensively as he
desired. He accordingly, in 1827,
started a sort of general car to transport his customers, which plied between
the baths and the center of town.
Baudry, later, set up his vehicle at Bordeaux and also at Paris; but as
in so many other cases where the community is benefited, the invention
flourished, though at the expense of the inventor.
In 1829 forage was dear, the roads bad; the
undertaking ruined the luckless Baudry, who is said to have died of
disappointment. It was in this year that
the enterprising undertaker sent out the first London ‘bus, which, according to
a now defunct Dublin newspaper, Saunders’
Newsletter, “excited considerable notice, from the novel form of the
carriage and the elegant manner in which it is fitted out. We apprehend it would be almost impossible to
make it overturn, owing to the great width.
It is drawn by three beautiful bays abreast, after the French
fashion. It is a handsome machine.” It then describes how “the new vehicle,
called the omnibus, commenced running this morning from Paddington to the
city.” It started from the “Yorkshire
Stingo,” and carried twenty-two passengers inside, at a charge of a shilling or
six-pence, according to the distance. To
carry eleven passengers on each side it must have been nearly double the length
of the present form of vehicle, and of the size and appearance of one of the
large three-horse Metropolitan Railway ‘busses.
An odd feature of the arrangement was that the day’s newspaper was
supplied for the convenience of the passengers...
According to John H. White, Jr. in his
2013 book entitled, Wet Britches and
Muddy Boots: A History of Travel in Victorian America, the first use of
omnibuses in the U.S. can be traced to New York City. While there were a number of American
builders of these vehicles, the most prominent is likely to have been John
Stephenson, also located in NYC.
Stephenson is not only the builder of the massive, thirty-six-foot
omnibus mentioned above but his firm is estimated to have constructed over
25,000 streetcars and countless horse-drawn vehicles in its roughly 85-year
history. The firm found its niche in
1832 with the construction of a streetcar for John Mason, a well-known banker
and merchant. The design included
numerous features making it easier and more stable to use. It was an instant hit with the owner and the
public. The rewards didn’t stop with
simple accolades. On April 22, 1833,
Stephenson was granted a patent for the design – America’s first streetcar
(tram) on rails. Even so, his
innovations didn’t stop there. For the
next half century, he was granted numerous patents for streetcar designs. One of the most detailed histories on Mr.
Stephenson can be found in the online archives of the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin.
Andrew Wight was another notable builder
of omnibuses as well as street cars, express, business, and freight wagons, and
also circus wagons and cages. Wight had
been an ornamental painter for John Stephenson’s legendary firm in New York
and, likewise, held horse-drawn vehicle patents. In 1858, Wight had the itch to move west,
settling in St. Louis and opening his own vehicle manufactory. By 1874, he provided work for 100 employees
with street cars sold throughout the West and omnibuses permeating the
Mississippi Valley region.
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This image shows a portion of an early advertising card used by Andrew Wight. It’s also housed in the Wheels That Won The West® Archives. |
Another organization involved in the
creation of omnibuses was located in Cortland, New York. The company was founded in 1881 by W.T.
Smith, originally of Homer, NY. After
three decades of carriage-building and manufacturing omnibuses for roughly a
half dozen years, Smith found himself enticed to move to Cortland. Once there, he entered into a co-partnership
with the Cortland Wagon Company to form the Cortland Omnibus Company. Within a decade, the firm was building as
many as 175 omnibuses per year and shipping them all over the U.S. During this time, the vehicles ranged in
price from $300 to $500 each.
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Courtesy of the Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages, this photo shows another type of omnibus design. The ‘Grace Darling’ was used in the New England region for a variety of excursions and event transportation needs. |
This blog, in no way, is meant to be a
detailed study of omnibuses. There is a
great deal more to the story of these vehicles, including the early design
evolution from ‘Sociables’ and ‘Accomodations’ as well as a myriad of builders,
the industry as a whole, and the vehicle’s transition into today’s bus
configurations. Ultimately, my intent
here has been to help shed some light on other vehicle types and their
contribution to municipalities and businesses all over the country – including
the West.
Just as nineteenth century resorts and
hotels used horse-drawn omnibuses to transport passengers to and from the train
depot, many hotels still use a ‘bus’ to pick folks up from the depot (i.e.
airport terminals). Similarly, municipalities
also continue their use of modern-day buses for both intercity and intracity
transportation. Times may have changed
but transportation needs will always be a priority; the result being that many ideas
started in the horse-drawn era remain as an equally important part of modern society.
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Horse-drawn omnibuses were a common sight on America’s well-populated streets in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. In many cities, they numbered in the hundreds. |
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