The Halladay Motor Car company was founded in 1905 in
Streator, Illinois
Streator is a city in LaSalle and Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately southwest of Chicago in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. As of the 2020 cens ...
, and moved to
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
in 1917.
Origins
The company originated with the
Erie Motor Carriage & Manufacturing Company in
Anderson, Indiana
Anderson, named after Chief William Anderson, is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison County. Anderson ...
, which was bought out in 1902 by Lou P. Halladay.
He spent a year earning $30,000 in capital, then renamed the company the Streator Automobile & and Manufacturing Company. The company kept this name until 1913.
Streator Automobile & and Manufacturing Company
The first car came out in 1904 with great secrecy. It was a five-passenger touring car with a four-cylinder engine.
The engines came from the
Rutenber Motor Company. In 1908, the company added a
runabout and a
limousine
A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment.
A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pro ...
.
About 900 cars were made every year.
The cars were well-built. In 1910, a Halladay was the only car to finish a 250-mile race in Atlanta. On September 23, 1911, the company fell into receivership, with $250,000 in liabilities. In January 1913, the company's property was sold to the Merchants' Realization Company, which then sold it to Albert C. Barley, the secretary of the Rutenber Motor Company.
Models
Under Albert Barley
While under Albert Barley, he named the company
Barley Motor Car Company, but still produced the Halladay. After a while, he lost interest in the Halladay, so in 1916 he sold the Halladay to a group of investors headed by T. E. Huth, while he made a new car called the Roamer.
In Ohio
In 1917, the group of investors kept making the Halladay, now in
Warren, Ohio
Warren is a city in and the county seat of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. Located in northeastern Ohio, Warren lies approximately northwest of Youngstown and southeast of Cleveland. The population was 39,201 at the 2020 census. The h ...
. They changed the name to Halladay Motor Car Company. They still used a six-cylinder engine provided by Rutenber.
The cars were advertised as "sturdy, compact, and low-upkeep".
In 1920, the company was moved to
Newark, Ohio
Newark ( ) is a city serving as the county seat of Licking County, Ohio, United States, east of Columbus, at the junction of the forks of the Licking River. The population was 49,934 at the 2020 census, which makes it the 15th largest city in O ...
, where the name was changed to Halladay Motors Corporation. In 1922, the company tried to make a 4-cylinder car called the Falcon, but in March, the company went into receivership again. This was because of charges from the
Barber Asphalt Paving Company
Barber Asphalt Company of Washington, D.C. started in 1883 was founded by Amzi L. Barber. Barber, born in 1843. Barber first career was a teaching professor, he moved to real estate. In real estate, he found the problem of needing affordable pave ...
of Pennsylvania, which had not been paid for work done around the Newark plant.
This time, Halladay went out of business.
References
{{reflist
Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Illinois
Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States
Halladay automobile
Halladay automobile
Cars introduced in 1905
1900s cars
1910s cars
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1905
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1922
Brass Era vehicles
Vintage vehicles
1905 establishments in Illinois