Henry Seth Taylor () and Canada&#;s First Car
Henry Seth Taylor was a natural tinkerer. Born in Stanstead in , he loved to experiment with machines, and during his lifetime he is said to have invented a number of things, including the first sofa-bed and an early "talking machine". Taylor is best known, however, for building Canada's first steam-powered car, which he unveiled at the Stanstead Fair in
Self-propelled carriages had been around for years by the time Taylor demonstrated his own model to the public. In France, for example, Joseph Cugnot in had built a heavy three-wheeled vehicle with a boiler in front and a top speed of 5 km per hour. More recently, American Sylvester Roper had built a number of four-wheeled horseless carriages in the early s. His steam cars had been demonstrated at country fairs in different parts of New England. One (probably Roper's, though not credited to him) had even been demonstrated at a travelling circus that arrived in Taylor's home-town in (making it possibly the first car exhibited in Canada). It was billed in the Stanstead Journal as demonstrating "the wondrous novelty of an ordinary road carriage driven over the common highways wit
Canada’s first automobile was a watchmaker’s dream
Along portions of Stanstead, Québec’s Canusa Street, houses on the southern end lie entirely within Vermont, while their driveways direct northward and connect to the street in Quebec. Their backyard neighbors are American, while families living across the street are Canadian. In other areas, the international border runs right through individual homes, so that meals prepared in one country are eaten in the other.
Henry Seth Taylor, the builder of Canada’s first automobile, lived and worked here. At age 11, Taylor left home to learn new skills. He dreamed of becoming a watchmaker and thus set off for Boston, some miles away… on foot!
In the early s, already married and with children, he returned home to Stanstead to open his own business. Running his successful jewelry store by day, he spent evenings inventing, experimenting and building things. One of his projects was a self-propelled vehicle, which took Taylor a few years to get on the road.
But on Sept. 12, , The Stanstead Journal reported that “H.S. Taylor’s steam carriage is completed and will be at the Stanstead Fair during the t
Made In Canada: How The Big Three Worked With The Landmark Auto Pact of
Henry Seth Taylor, a Quebecker, is credited with building Canada’s first horseless carriage. That was in , and his steam-powered “pleasure carriage” forged a path for a nascent industry that, as in the United States, spawned countless start-up auto builders by the turn of the 20th century. And just as in the U.S., most faded away with only comparative handfuls of vehicles produced.
In fact, the going was even tougher in Canada due to its vastly lower population and relatively limited technical resources. In , there were million residents across Canada, compared to the 76 million Americans to the south. Simply put, the U.S. had the population to support the economies of scale required to sustain successful manufacturers. The U.S. certainly shed its share of less-competitive brands as the new century wore on, but the strong ones grew exponentially.
In Canada, most homegrown brands gave way to Detroit’s manufacturers after World War I and during the Great Depression. Those American vehicles were popular, but because of stiff import duties instituted under the National Policy of , they were als
Canadian Henry Seth Taylor reportedly built this steam buggy in Stanstead, Quebec in [1] He may have purchased it from Sylvester Roper.[2]
Richard Stewart published an article in the May-June issue of Antique Automobile describing the finding and restoration of the Taylor vehicle.[3]
This image of the H. S. Taylor Steam Buggy is part of teh Car Portrait series produced by Automobile Quarterly Magazine in
In , the Canadian Government issued this commemorative postage stamp honoring H. S. Taylor and his steam buggy.
In , the Canadian Government issued this commemorative postage stamp honoring H. S. Taylor and his steam buggy. This is the card that carried the stamp and some historical information.
Hemmings Motor News ran this Taylor Steam Buggy item in its November issue.
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