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Grand Rapids in 1856

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Homemade Auto

Homemade Auto

GRHC - February 10th, 2014

Several enterprising youngsters, bent on the possession of an automobile, but not having the price of one, contrived a ride in a horseless carriage.

Transcript

Several enterprising youngsters, bent on the possession of an automobile, but not having the price of one of those modern vehicles, managed to contrive a ride in a horseless carriage, in other words, a carriage minus the horse.

The vehicle was a two-seater, and the motive power was mostly hot air and gravity. It was taken up the John Ball park driveway and coasted down beautifully, steered with ropes attached to the front axle. The carriage made about sixty miles an hour at the end of each trip.

Two young men strolling through the moonlit park with their dates happened along and begged the boys for the use of their auto for one trip. It was a fearful ride. When the driver lost the guide ropes the flying carriage turned to the left and soared over the high bank at the edge of a small, but very deep pond.

One young woman cut a beautiful semi-circle in the air and went head first into the drink. She righted immediately and was able, by standing on tiptoes, to keep her chin above water as she waded ashore. The shorter lass of the two climbed into the wrecked carriage and blew out a stream of John Ball Park water.

The names of the two young women were jealously guarded from the reporter whose story appeared in the Evening Press.

Full Details

TitleHomemade Auto
CreatorGRHC
KeywordsWYCE; radio; Grand Rapids; Historical Commission; John Ball Park; horseless carriage
Duration1:56
Pubdate StringFebruary 10th, 2014
Locationlocation on map


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