The Stacy Building is a historic building at 41-43 Taylor Street in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

, in the district of Metro Center known as the Club Quarter. On September 20, 1893, Springfielders

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

and Frank Duryea road-tested the first-ever American-built,

gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...

-powered

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

in Springfield, which they had built at the Stacy Building. The first Duryea Motor Wagons were all built by hand at the Stacy Building on Taylor Street in Springfield. Despite the September 20 road-test on Howard Bemis's Springfield farm, the '' Springfield Republican'' newspaper did get the story until the Duryea brothers' 2nd public road-test on November 10, 1893. In 1895, the Duryea Motor Wagon won America's first-ever road race - a 54-mile race from

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

, beating out European companies like Daimler Benz. Following this, demand for Duryea automobiles soared. In 1896, the Duryea Motor Wagon Company became the first company to manufacture and sell gasoline-powered automobiles. The Duryea Brothers produced thirteen cars by hand in the company's first year - all at the Stacy Building. The company's motto was "there is no better motorcar." Immediately, Duryeas were purchased by luminaries of the time, including George Vanderbilt. Two months after buying one of the first, manufactured cars - New York City motorist Henry Wells hit a bicyclist with his new Duryea; the rider suffered a broken leg, Wells spent a night in jail, and the United States' first traffic accident was recorded. Outside of the Stacy Building - in what is now (as then) Springfield's Club Quarter - next to what is currently the popular Alumni Club at 90 Worthington Street, there is a model of an 1893 Duryea Motor Wagon - mere feet from the Stacy Building, where the Duryea Brothers invented and manufactured their history-changing machine.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Springfield, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Springfield, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Springfield, Massachusetts

See also

References