Founded in Kansas City, Missouri in 1908, the American Automobile Manufacturing Company acquired the Jonz Automobile Company of

Beatrice, Nebraska Beatrice () is a city in and the county seat of Gage County, Nebraska, United States. Its population was 12,459 at the 2010 census. Beatrice is located approximately 25 miles south of Lincoln on the Big Blue River and is surrounded by agricultu ...

in 1910 with a planned initial capitalization of $1,000,000. In early news releases, the company claimed "$100,000 of the stock has been subscribed for by Chicago and Kansas City men". Initial plans called for the establishment of factories in Kansas City and Louisville, Kentucky. The company settled on moving its offices to

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

in December, 1910, and began manufacturing in an abandoned woolen mill across the Ohio River from Louisville in

New Albany, Indiana New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The population was 37,841 as of the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Floyd County. It is bounded by I-265 ...

. The factory buildings were two and three stories in height, located on a six-acre tract on Vincennes Street in New Albany. The factory was reported in 1914 to be "one of the very largest factories in the state of Indiana... and is equipped with machinery, tools, raw materials, parts and accessories for the manufacture of motor cars." Promising huge potential profits, the company sold stock using catalogs, pamphlets and an extensive magazine and newspaper ad campaign reaching as far as Great Britain. The company did produce a limited number of cars which were marketed as the Jonz (automobile), named after the "Jonz Tranquil Motor" developed by the three Jones brothers in Kansas. The American Automobile Manufacturing Company built the two-stroke engine "American" from 1911 to 1912 in New Albany. American Automobile Corporation went bankrupt, and Ferdinand N. Kahler purchased its assets, forming the Ohio Falls Motor Company, largely to protect the assets of his woodworking business, The Kahler Company.

References

* 1910s cars Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Indiana Defunct companies based in Indiana New Albany, Indiana {{LouisvilleMSA-stub