| The St. Louis Motor Carriage Company was the first successful motorcar company west of the Mississippi River. John L. French and George P. Dorris started the company in 1898. French acted as president, and Dorris acted as vice president and engineer. By 1900 they had an extensive business, producing 130 cars at their factory on N. Vandeventer Avenue in their first year of production. Their slogan, “Rigs that Run,” was proven time and again in endurance runs and hill climbs.
In 1903, John French died from injuries he had sustained in an auto accident the previous year. The business continued on successfully with Dorris and both Jesse French Jr. and Sr. in his place, until 1905, when the company closed in St. Louis and reorganized in Peoria, Illinois. Dorris chose to resign his position and stay in St. Louis to start a company bearing his own name. Without Dorris as engineer the company failed and the plant was sold in 1907.
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Cover from booklet, Rigs That Run: We Make Them, ca. 1904.
The owners of St. Louis Motor Carriage Company, George Dorris (front) and Jesse French Jr. and Sr., in a company racing and touring car circa 1903.
"Rigs That Run" Ad from The Automobile Review.
1904 St. Louis Tonneau
Built originally as a tonneau in late 1903 or early 1904, this car has the engine under the front seat, unlike earlier automobiles. A tonneau was a rear seat that riders climbed into by opening a door in the center back of the seat. Once everyone was in, the door was closed and latched becoming the center seat back.
This St. Louis was originally owned by Douglas Watson of San Francisco, California. In the summer of 1904 he drove through Yosemite Valley. His story was published in The Automobile magazine, and images were featured in the St. Louis Motor Carriage A Bit of Nature booklet. Despite breaking the drive shaft (which took 5 days to get a new one), and running out of gas (which took three weeks to get more), the trip was successful and he felt that he and his friends had "accomplished something extraordinary."
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