Researching early San Antonio automobile history is not easy. The usual resources, such as city newspapers and directories, are incomplete, contradictory and unreliable. As a result most of the few historians who even bothered, simply skimmed the readily available records and concluded, incorrectly, that San Antonio was very slow to adopt the automobile. More thorough research has now revealed just the opposite. Although the first automobile adverts appeared in 1902, they then disappeared until 1909 when one for an American Underslung racing type, was run on September 1, 1909. From virtually no entries in the city directory in previous years, there was a “sudden” rush of new automobile related businesses in the 1910 edition. From just two names in 1909, the list grew to nineteen the following year. By 1911 this had grown to fifty-seven. This years also saw the first time an automobile related advert in the city directory, for Meister & Becker’s repair shop at 450 N. Flores.

The first recorded horseless carriage in San Antonio, an electric vehicle, was delivered to the Staacke Brothers livery service on Commerce Street in 1899. This is the same year that most historians agree the first gasoline powered car arrived in Texas; a St. Louis delivered by its manufacturer in person to Edward Green of Terrell, Texas. The San Antonio newspaper report does not give the name of the manufacturer of the Staacke’s electric but described it having four bicycle type wheels, steered by a tiller and capable of seating two persons. As the Staackes were agents for Studebaker it is reasonable to suggest it was one of this company’s initial and brief foray into electric powered cars. (Studebaker soon adopted the internal combustion engine.) It is most likely - though a specific record has yet to be found - that San Antonio was visited by an even earlier electric vehicle. Montgomery Wards, then a mail order company, toured a couple of specially made electrics around Texas in 1897. As San Antonio was the second largest city in the state and hosted an enormous international trade fair every year it is likely that the vehicles were brought here but definitive proof has yet to be located.

he first gasoline powered car in San Antonio arrived in 1901. Because automobiles were so expensive at this time, often costing more than most houses, the earliest examples in any given city was usually acquired by a doctor, who could justify the cost as he could now make double the number of house calls than with horses, of which some local physicians owned three teams, or a banker. It was a member of the latter group, J.D. Anderson who was head cashier at the City National Bank at 224 W. Commerce Street. (Head Cashier is the equivalent of Chief Financial Officer today.) From his imposing residence at 728 San Pedro near Cypress Street, then the most prestigious residential part of town, now graced by a Walgreens facing a McDonalds, he drove his $1,795.00 (the equivalent of $45,000.00 in today’s money) Haynes-Apperson, built by the second US automotive company after the Duryeas, to work. Not all nearby residents were pleased. In fact a delegation requested that the council ban the beasts because they scared horses and children.

1902 saw the arrival of at least two more horseless carriages. In January a steam powered Locomobile appeared and Louis Heurmann became the make’s sales agent in the city. The vehicle was described as “gliding noiselessly under complete control.” And in the summer bicycle shop owners Lewis Birdsong and Frank Crothers acquired one of the first mass produced vehicles in the world, the single cylinder Curved Dash Oldsmobile, which sold for $650.00. It was delivered in a crate to their residence on Marshall Street by a horse drawn wagon straight from the railroad. Although neither man had ever seen a car they made their living repairing racing bicycles plus, like many young men enthralled with the spirit of the age, they had been studying automotive developments in magazines such as the American machinist and the Scientific American which ran an article on the gasoline powered three-wheeler built by Karl Benz in 1885. In no time they had it assembled and running, though exactly where they acquired gasoline is a good question. Quickly becoming familiar with its simple controls driving it backwards and forwards within the confines of their yard they took it out onto the street. The Curved Dash Oldsmobile was not a complex machine to operate. It had two forward gears and reverse. It rode on twenty-eight inch wheels with wooden spokes and pneumatic tires. Its brakes operated on both the differential and the rear wheels. Before long the young men grew restless sedately puttering at twelve miles an hour along local streets including South Alamo, one of the few paved streets at that time so they headed to the race track at the International Fairgrounds where they had so often ridden their bicycles to glory. (See chapter on bicycles for details.) Here they were able to scud along the bumpy tracks, used mainly for horse racing, at the unheard of speed of 30 MPH.

On September 16, 1902 the pair sold the vehicle, to a Mr. G.E. Vaughan. Established as the city’s first automobile agency, they soon sold more “Merrie Oldsmobiles” to several more customers including Fred Cook who was elected to the position of president of San Antonio’s first automobile club in the fall of 1903. In 1904 Birdsong and a companion, Welcome Smith, toured Texas in a Curved Dash, just the kind of publicity stunt beloved by Oldsmobile. They camped where necessary and often were the first horseless carriage in many communities.

The San Antonio Automobile Club was formed in October 1903. With thirteen original members in attendance at the Phoenix Club, Fred Cook was elected president. Also present were Birdsong, Crothers, H.W. Staacke and J.D. Anderson.. Their first outing, to the Medina River near modern Von Ormy, set out from the Birdsong & Crothers store at 214 East Houston, where the Majestic Theater now stands. Twelve cars took part. Five were Curved Dashes. The others were a Pope-Toledo, a Thomas, a Ford, a Locomobile Steamer a Woods Electric, a Haynes-Apperson and a French import, a Richard Brazier racer The thirty mile trip on unimproved roads proved successful. On subsequent outings the club negotiated huge boulders at Cibolo Creek to visit New Braunfels and its mayor, Harry Landa, one of the town’s first automobilists. The club also brought in election results from outlying districts to the San Antonio Express which posted them along with national results received by wire service for the first time on a large electric sign on the exterior of the building, much to the delight of the enthusiastic crowds gathered there. San Antonio was at the cutting edge of many new technologies as the new century dawned.

In 1904, as the number of cars in San Antonio grew, it became mandatory for all local vehicles, motorized and horse drawn, to be registered with the city and display identification numbers. While a minimum size was laid out, a number of different methods were allowed, including having them stenciled on the front of the radiator. The city, following a change in the Texas constitution, issued its first bonds for road improvements, to the tune of $500,000.00. This would be followed in 1907 with more bonds of $250,000.00 for the same purpose. .

In 1905 the first motorized vehicles took part in the Battle of Flowers parade. In 1906 there was an interesting accident involving the wife of Judge Vanderhoeven who dragged a pedestrian the length of Alamo Plaza before someone jumped aboard the electric vehicle and brought it to a halt. She abandoned the car right then and there. The pedestrian was compensated with a new suit of clothes. The car itself still survives as part of the Witte Museum’s extensive transportation collection.

Cars were still prohibitively expensive for most people. The Maxwell sold for $1,400.00 and the more modest Ford Model C cost $650.00. Nonetheless when in 1907 it became state law for all cars to be registered with the county of residence, some 20,000.00 were to be found in Texas. To combat the cost, Joseph Bader set up a small shop on Main Street in Comfort to rebuild worn out cars into drivable vehicles using a mix and match approach including some new parts but mainly those otherwise headed for the scrap heap due to age, obsolescence or accidents, of which there were all too many. Bader’s operation was so successful he moved to a larger location in Kerrville but the introduction of the low priced Ford Model T and the Brush soon reduced demand. He stayed in business performing automotive repairs, however, for many years..

Kerrville its first car agencies, first Buick, then Brush, around 1910. Prior to this one of the first “new” cars in Kerr County was built by a local high school student, Harry Dietert, who go on to have a prominent career as an automotive metallurgist in Detroit. His first car was a dinky one seater but, realizing he could carry a girlfriend, he built a larger two seat model. Miraculously this still exists. It is owned by Joe Herring, who was most helpful in providing pictures and information about Kerrville transportation history. The can be found at the offices of the Herring Printing Company.

Agencies differed from dealerships as we know them today in that folks ordered their cars through the agent and it would then be delivered from either the factory or from inventory kept in large cities, most often Houston in Texas. This meant local businesses could survive on very slight sales without having to keep a large selection of vehicles on their books. Agents often made more money from the sale of parts, performing repairs and selling fuel than from new car sales. By 1912, when New Braunfels gained the Gerlich Auto Company which sold Fords, the situation had changed. With increasing numbers of sales and the introduction of credit plans, it became possible for dealers to run larger operations in smaller towns

When Ford replaced its popular Model N with the T in 1908, the company opened a factory owned outlet in a building right behind the Alamo. With just two employees, they did finish work on new cars and serviced older models as well. The Ford Motor Company led the way with establishing an independent dealership network and, before long, the San Antonio outlet was sold to Clifton George. It was acquired by Gillespie in the late 1920s, in part to help with George’s debts incurred by the construction of the Medical Arts Building, now known as the Emily Morgan Hotel. Relocated ultimately to a location at Culebra on Loop 410, Gillespie was acquired by the Red McCombs Automotive Group in 2009.

The San Antonio City Council introduced its first ever set of written road rules in March 1910, at more or less the same time the police department acquired its first automobiles and motorbikes. Rule No. 1 states “Vehicles going in opposite directions shall pass each other on the right.” It turns out this most basic rule was imposed, not by the federal government, but by local jurisdictions. Having said that, I am not aware of anywhere in the USA where this was not the rule. Interestingly enough most American cars had the driving position on the right so the driver was on the pavement side. When Henry Ford put the driver of the Model T on the left it added to the car’s initial popularity immeasurably. It took a surprising amount of time before all manufacturers followed suit. The 19010 rules did not require all motorists to stop their engines for all passing horse drawn traffic. However they were obliged to pull over if requested to do by someone with agitated animals. Before long adverts offering to train horses and mules to calmly cope with motorized traffic began appearing in local newspapers.

Racing was an important club activity. San Antonio did not attain a proper race track until 1909. Until then club members such as Birdsong and Anderson took their cars to Houston where they achieved considerable success. While Birdsong could race his Curved Dash without alterations, Anderson stripped his Richard Brazier of as much of its bodywork as possible. Although a limited amount of racing was conducted in San Antonio it was not until high banks were added to each end of the oval at the International Fairgrounds that thrilling higher speeds could be achieved here. A very young local driver, Tobin DeHymel, achieved considerable success at both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the beach at Galveston before being killed in a crash in his home town in 1910.

As often the wealthiest and most forward thinking citizens in the community, early motorists and their numerous clubs both campaigned for improved roads and help create maps for motorists using existing routes which were often little more than tracks and trails. Club members traveled in pairs from easily identifiable spots such as the Colorado River Bridge in Austin. While one drove the other carefully noted distances and landmarks. Club president Dr. Richard Goeth, who was obliged to own three teams of horses to accommodate his medical practice in Boerne before talking a job with the Southern Pacific, helped create a number of local maps for the automobile club..

In 1916,just in time for the First World War, the Federal Government enacted the first Federal Road Aid Act which would transform the national road network. In order to receive federal monies Texas was obliged to form a state department of transportation, something that had been resisted for years. Low cost make Chevrolet introduced a modern style H pattern stick shift transmission which in due course would allow General Motors first to challenge then overtake Ford, which stuck with its awkward pedal operated planetary gears until 1927. The automobile had come of age but the changes it would bring with it were just beginning.