The Smith Automobile Company of

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...

, was an early

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

manufacturing company which produced the Veracity, Smith, and Great Smith lines of automobiles from 1902 to 1911. They were the first automobiles made west of the Mississippi River.

History

Terry Stafford was testing his first car by February, 1900. Lacking operating capital, he gained financing from the artificial limb manufacturing brothers Anton and Clement Smith. The Smith brothers financed the building of a factory and the first automobiles were sold to the public in August, 1902. Early two-cylinder Smiths were marketed as Veracity with Smith becoming the marque name with the introduction of larger cars. Smith Automobile Company was formed in November 1904 with a capitalization of $100,000. Terry Stafford designed a new four-cylinder car with shaft-drive introduced as a mid year-model in 1906. The Great Smith of 1907 was priced at $2,500 () with a 318 in³ (5213 cc) (4.5×5-inch, 114×127mm) water-cooled four, four-speed sliding gear

transmission Transmission or transmit may refer to: Science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Transmission (mechanical device), technology that allows controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual tra ...

(three forward, one reverse), multi-disk

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

. It featured 34×4 in (86×10 cm) spoke wheels and a 107 in (2718 mm)

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

. Smith advertised heavily that almost all parts were built in their own factory under their own patents. In 1908, a Great Smith became the first automobile to make it to the top of

Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, ...

.McConnell, Curt (1995). ''Great Cars of the Great Plains''. University of Nebraska Press. In 1908 and 1909, the Smith brothers sold their interests in the company and Michigan investors took over with plans to move the factory to

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

. This was opposed by A.L.A.M. and Smith remained in Topeka. In 1910 Smith Automobile made a plea for financial assistance to Topeka residents to save the company but by December, 1910 Smith Automobile Company was in the hands of a Receiver. Upon exiting the automobile business, Anton Smith reportedly destroyed all the files and records of the company in a large bonfire. Terry Stafford left the company in 1908 to build an automobile under his own name. The Stafford Motor Car Company lasted until 1915. President

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

owned a Stafford Automobile. The Smith automobile plant was sold to Charles and George Southwick in 1911 who built remaining Smith cars from parts on hand. The plant was sold to a

silo A silo () is a structure for storing Bulk material handling, bulk materials. Silos are commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silos are in widespread use toda ...

manufacturer in 1912. The

Kansas Historical Society The Kansas Historical Society is the official state historical society of Kansas. Headquartered in Topeka, it operates as "the trustee of the state" for the purpose of maintaining the state's history and operates the Kansas Museum of Histor ...

has a red and black Great Smith on display.

Models

File:1905 Smith Surrey from Smith Catalog.jpg, 1905 Smith Surrey from a Smith Automobile catalog File:1906 Smith 24-Hp Touring car article The Automobile magazine.jpg, 1906 Smith 24-hp Touring Car from The Automobile File:1906 Smith Four-Cylinder article The Automobile magazine.jpg, 1906 Smith Four-cylinder Touring Car with Shaft-drive from The Automobile File:1907 Great Smith fro article in Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal.jpg, 1907 Great Smith Touring Car from article in Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal File:1911 Great Smith Cruiser in Hand Book of Gasoline Automobiles.jpg, 1911 Great Smith Cruiser from Hand Book of Gasoline Automobiles File:1911 Great Smith Touring Car in Hand Book of Gasoline Automobiles.jpg, 1911 Great Smith Touring Car from Hand Book of Gasoline Automobiles

File:1906 Great Smith small advertisement in Motor magazine.jpg, 1906 Great Smith advertisement in Motor magazine File:1907 Great Smith advertisement in 1906 Motor Way.jpg, 1907 Great Smith in Motor Way File:1910 Great Smith Cars advertisement detail from Motor Age.jpg, 1910 Great Smith advertisement from Motor Age

References

External links

Kansas State Historical Society -Great Smith AutomobileKansas State Historical Society - Smith Automobile Company
{{Commons category, Smith Automobile Company Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Economy of Topeka, Kansas American companies established in 1902 1902 establishments in Kansas Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1902 American companies disestablished in 1912 1912 disestablishments in Kansas Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1911 Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Kansas Veteran vehicles Brass Era vehicles 1900s cars 1910s cars Cars introduced in 1902 Cars discontinued in 1911

History

Models

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See also

References

External links