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STATE ROADS AND KING’S HIGHWAY
The image below was broadly circulated in the Diamond State a century ago as a proposal for a Delaware roadway. Who originated the proposal, and was the roadway ever constructed?
Answer
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Delaware’s roads were considered some of the worst in the nation. As most of the state consists of a flat plain of sandy soil not much higher than sea level, the land does not dry quickly, especially a century ago when large stands of timber covered vast stretches of the state. There were several north-south roads established as “King’s’ Highways” by the Levy Courts in the late 17th century. Delaware typically called north-south routes a “State Road” or King’s Highway and east-west routes a ‘”County Road.”
In the late 1800s, with the development of the steam carriage, electric carriage, and eventually the motor carriage, the need for improved roads became increasingly important. The Roosevelt administration pushed for federal aid in constructing better roadways throughout the country. In 1911 the National Highways Association was established with Board Chairman T. Coleman du Pont leading the organization. The organization established a national “good roads everywhere” movement with a vision that the U.S. would have a network of well paved roads, including Delaware.
By 1910 there were nearly 1,000 registered vehicles in Delaware. The image above was generated in 1912 as T. Coleman du Pont’s vision for a boulevard he was willing to fund and construct the length of the state. Du Pont is quoted in a 1912 Scientific American article as desiring the road to be “constructed of water bound macadam or concrete base, on top of which will be laid asphalt and stone mixed; or a surface composed of water bound macadam with a half-inch covering of asphalt and trap rock to make it dust and water proof.” An objective of du Pont’s boulevard would be the elimination of “twists and sinuosity” of most existing roads by following the principal that a “straight line is the shortest distance between two points.”
Du Pont’s new company, Coleman du Pont Road Incorporated, would acquire a 200-foot right-of-way through each of Delaware’s counties (later reduced to 60-foot). After constructing the boulevard, each 10-mile segment completed was to be turned over to the state to maintain. Eventually known as the Du Pont Highway, it was designated U.S. Route 13 north of Dover and U.S. Route 113 south of Dover. Fully completed in 1923, it became the nation’s first divided highway.
For more photos and a detailed history of the Du Pont Highway’s construction, the U.S Department of Transportation’s National Transportation Library has “Historic context for the DuPont Highway U.S. Route 113, Kent and Sussex County, Delaware” (https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/40800 ) from which the images were obtained.
HIDDEN STORIES
During Steamin’ Days and private tours, we often tell visitors that laid out before them is the evolution of the automobile from birth to maturity. The museum’s story revolves around the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, but a similar story might be told for any number of other manufacturers of the era. Once pointed out, visitors begin noticing lighting evolving from removeable kerosene lamps to carbide to acetylene gas lamps and finally to electric. They notice the evolution from wood bodies to aluminum and steel, from tillers to right-hand steering to left-hand steering. But there are many more stories hidden away within the Marshall Steam Museum yet to be told.
For example, every vehicle in the museum (with the exception of the Penny Farthing currently on display) has a minimum of four wheels. Perhaps in the future, a temporary display might detail the evolution of the automotive wheel and tire. In 1916 an estimated 6,470,832 wheels, tubes, flaps, and tires had to be produced for the 1,617,708 steam, electric, and internal combustion-powered horseless carriages manufactured that year. Estimates also indicate that due to the lack of robust rubber tire construction, not to mention the deplorable condition of American roads, the 3-million-plus passenger vehicles in use in 1916 consumed an average of eight tires per year! The result was American industry produced upwards of 20 million tires annually in 1916 to keep pace!
While the 1914 Ford Model T included in the collection highlights one of the three primary technologies vying for supremacy during automotive adolescence, future investigations might highlight the impressive impact Henry Ford and the Model T provided in multitudes of ways. People think of the Model T as the first mass-produced, mechanically complex commodity manufactured but rarely recognize Ford’s insight in taking the fundamental operation of a meat packing plant and reversing it (put something together instead of cutting it apart as a series of operations or steps) for mass production of almost any manufactured commodity.
Now step back a bit further to realize that every Model T from 1908 until 1927 required four wheels with tires (and perhaps a spare). Ford’s suppliers, such as Firestone, had to maintain large-scale, efficient, high-volume production operations not only to supply Ford but Stanley, Rauch & Lang and their competitors as well! The adolescent period of the automobile not only introduced mass production but the need for standardization of products, which provides yet another opportunity for interpretation and display.
The first vehicle to move under its own power (steam) on American streets, and the world’s first amphibious vehicle, was constructed by Oliver Evans of Delaware and demonstrated on Market Street and the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia in 1805. The first sale of an American-built self-powered vehicle was a steam car constructed by S. H. Roper of Massachusetts, which sold in 1889. Soon to follow was an electric car sold to J. B. McDonald, which William Morrison of Des Moines, IA, constructed in early 1892 and exhibited on the streets of Chicago in September of that year. The Stanley twins constructed their first car in 1897, a year before the first internal combustion car was sold by Alexander Winton to Robert Allison of Port Carbon, PA, in 1898.
The first public car show was held in Madison Square Garden, New York City, in 1890, where 34 makes were exhibited. Only 3,700 cars of all makers were produced in 1899, rising to 11,000 vehicles by 1903, with Locomobile/Stanley the top seller for 1900 through 1903. A total of 44,000 vehicles valued at $93.4 million were produced in 1907, followed by 85,000 cars of all models in 1908. Production climbed steadily upward, reaching 485,000 cars in 1913 and just prior to World War I. Automotive historians suggest this output was muted from what it might have been. The Marshall Steam Museum’s Model T represents that story as well.
What factor, event, or otherwise was responsible for muting American horseless carriage production, especially for internal combustion engine powered vehicles, right after Alexander Winton sold his first Winton in 1898?
Answer
Our Founding Fathers realized that if this country was to prosper, a means to protect intellectual property was needed. Thus in 1790 President George Washington signed the bill creating America’s patent system. A patent doesn’t grant the right to make, sell or use a product incorporating a patented idea, but rather permits the person(s) having the idea to determine how they wish their idea to be used (license, sell, assign/transfer, gift, etc.) while excluding others from making, selling, importing or otherwise creating an equivalent for some period of years. It was the U.S. patent system that inhibited the rapid expansion of early automotive ideas and designs.
In 1879 George B. Selden of Rochester, NY, applied for a patent for a gasoline-powered engine that might be used in a 4-wheeled vehicle. This was long before anyone thought it worthy putting an internal combustion engine in a carriage, thus rendering it “horseless.” Selden had conceived the idea and constructed a prototype so that he could file a patent application (with George Eastman, no less, as witness!). For the next 16 years, Selden kept updating his application and using similar legal patent regulations to keep the patent application alive until 1895, when he allowed the patent to be issued (Patent 549,160, November 5, 1895). Today patents expire in 20 years; however, in Selden’s time, it was 17 years. Selden effectively stopped the construction and sale of most gasoline-engine powered horseless carriages until 1912 unless a royalty was paid.
The Stanley twins ran afoul of patent law as well, but not Selden’s. They had patented (Patent 663,836) their rear axle differential and later granted sole use to the Locomobile Company when they sold their early steam carriage business. When the twins re-entered the horseless carriage business and introduced a re-designed Stanley Steamer in 1902, it retained a chain drive similar to what they had sold Locomobile but with a re-designed differential. A court case soon developed over the differential’s design, and instead of suffering the expense of a court battle and possibly losing, the twins moved their steam engine to a rear-axle mounting and direct gear drive between the crankshaft and differential, thus avoiding the claimed patent infringement of the twins’ licensed patent to Locomobile!
Selden sold all rights for his patent in 1900 to the Electric Vehicle Company, which enforced it rigorously. Alexander Winton’s Winton Motor Carriage Company was one of the first targeted. As a result, the Manufacturer’s Mutual Association, which later became the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers, was formed to fight both Selden and Electric Vehicle Company. Having lost the patent challenge, manufacturers were forced to pay a royalty fee for every gasoline-powered vehicle manufactured. Thus, at the start of the automobile age, every gasoline-powered horseless carriage sold included a licensing fee that raised the catalog price and effectively limited the desire of gasoline-powered carriage manufacturers to risk expanding with new models and features.
The Selden patent became a thorn in Henry Ford’s plans when his Ford Motor Company was denied a license to use the patent in 1903 after forming his company. That didn’t stop Ford, and he continued with plans for the production of his Model T. Ford’s Model T debuted on October 1, 1908, and within weeks the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers filed a patent infringement case against Ford Motor Company. Nearly a year later, Ford lost his case, similar to others who challenged the Selden patent.
Unfazed, Ford appealed, which none of the others had previously attempted. For the appeal, Ford dove into the intricacies of Selden-patented gasoline-powered engine against the Ford-designed engine. Selden’s engine was based on the Brayton thermodynamic cycle (constant-pressure engine similar to a jet engine but using pistons) and not the Otto thermodynamic cycle (relies on varying pressures to operate) Ford had embraced. Ford easily won the appeal in January 1911, and with only a year left in the patent’s life, further contesting by the Association was not pursued. In 1912 the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers quietly changed their name to the Automobile Board of Trade and by 1914 were known as the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce with the purpose of promoting all horseless carriages. A look at automobile production records reveals that for 1912 and subsequent years, automotive production roughly doubled annually until World War 1.
Next time you visit the Marshall Steam Museum, take a moment to look beyond all that is displayed and let your mind wonder to how it all happened. The Marshall Steam Museum is more than a collection of steam cars and a few era artifacts. Hidden about are stories related to automobiles, the industrial revolution, banking, dealerships and selling automobiles, railroads, steam power, electrical power, galvanized sheet, clay mining, working conditions, and so much more.
UNSEEN FOR HALF A CENTURY, MAYBE LONGER
Answer
The second image of this month’s question is where the Marshall industrial rag paper involvement began – Thomas S. Marshall’s Homestead Paper Mill at Marshall’s Bridge, Kennett Township, PA. This is the mill where Israel and Elwood learned the papermaking trade from their father! Documented photos in the T. Clarence Marshall Collection at Hagley Museum & Library as well as photos in the Charles S. Philips Collection at the Chester County Historical Society confirm the mill’s identity.
A similar image dating from sometime in the 1880s has been displayed in the Marshall Museum and used for various publications. In that image the mill is definitely in operating condition as there is not the uncut growth of plants and grasses around the building. In this image, which has to be post 1904 due to being in in the Stanley-Kodak box and the timeframes of the other images, the mill looks more unused and neglected. While we don’t know the exact year when the Marshalls stopped making paper at the Homestead Paper Mill, indications are it was in the first decade of the 1900s. Marshall paper mills at Wooddale and Yorklyn were steam-powered, efficient, and offered more capacity than the primarily water-powered Homestead Mill.
The dirt road in the foreground is Creek Road (Route 82). Center right is where the road makes a sharp right heading to Old Kennett Pike. Where the road goes behind the mill it crosses the Red Clay Creek to become what we know as Marshall Bridge Road today.
Sharing several of the other glass plate negative images, the photograph below includes the date “August 4, 1915” written on the edge of the glass plate, along with the caption “Marshall’s Meadow, Yorklyn, DE.” The photo, taken from the area where the water tower now stands, shows the West Chester, Kennett, and Wilmington Electric Railway tracks in the foreground. Benge Road is to the left, and Auburn Mill Road is just beyond the row of trees. While we’ve been amazed at the flooding of the Red Clay in recent years, especially twice in one week this past August, it is obvious from Clarence’s photography of multiple floods, the creek swelled above its banks a century ago!
Tom Marshall wrote about the building featured below. Folks today often see the door in the white stone wall on Creek Road as you approach Yorklyn Road’s Iron Bridge and wonder what it was for. It was the door to the spring and ice house for the Snuff Mill Superintendent’s home (a Mr. Durham according to Tom), which was built in the latter 1800s. Becoming known as the “Boarding House” when it was operated by the Jackson family, in 1937 it was razed. Tom, in his writings, noted that the porch frequently collected the occasional stray autocarriage of the era! One of the Garrett Snuff Mill buildings is at the right edge of the image, the remnants still standing close to a paved Creek Road today.
Our final image is of Yorklyn a century ago, taken from atop the high hill across from Auburn Heights. In the foreground is Lower Snuff Mill Row which were snuff mill worker’s homes. The Garrett mansion (behind trees) and 1904 constructed superintendent’s homes are center right. The Garrett Snuff Mills are in the foreground center left with Marshall’s National Fibre & Insulation mills in the distance with their water tower and tall smokestack dating the photo to sometime in the late nineteen-teens or later.
AVRR TRIAL RUNS
Tom Marshall left the Friends of Auburn Heights with a rich history of the Auburn Valley Railroad as detailed in his weekly writings beginning in early 2001.
In 2006, Tom told us about his father, Clarence, buying castings in 1941 from Little Engines to construct a ¾-inch-scale 4-8-4 locomotive and tender. That locomotive, a ¾-inch-scale live steam model carrying a Lackawanna livery, is displayed in the museum. Having completed the construction of this locomotive in 1945, Clarence literally redoubled his efforts for his next project by purchasing the castings for a Little Engines 1½-inch-scale 4-8-4 locomotive and tender. As one of the first of a handful of machinists to purchase the castings in 1950, Tom tells us his father spent more than 7,500 hours constructing AVRR locomotive 401.
With 401 nearing completion, in March 1950 Clarence and Tom worked with Everett Hollingsworth to layout the original AVRR right-of-way around the Marshall Steam Museum and Auburn Heights Mansion. It was a simple, single loop of track following existing contours of the property. Tom writes that after constructing several passenger cars, the Auburn Valley Railroad debuted with the first passenger trains operating on T. Clarence Marshall’s 75th birthday, celebrated on August 5, 1960.
While the August 5, 1960, date represents the first time the AVRR carried passengers, anyone familiar with steam knows test runs are a necessity, especially for steam locomotives and automobiles that have never run or are returning to service from a rebuild. When did AVRR #401 make its first of several test runs on the newly laid tracks of the AVRR?
Answer
Searching Tom’s writings, we are unable to find mention of when AVRR 401 first ran on the then simpler track route around Auburn Heights. Tom does share that track-laying started at the turntable, a simple wooden truss back in those days, and proceeded around the property. Tom further writes that with 401 fired up on the turntable, he could make short test runs between a trestle that was still under construction behind the museum and the area of the present pond.
We recently stumbled upon an article in an archived copy of Steam Automobile magazine (Volume 2, Number 4, Summer 1960) that documents what we believe is the first running of AVRR 401 on the completed Auburn Heights track loop around the property, approximately two months after track layout and construction started!
73-YEAR FACELIFT
T. Clarence Marshall took an interest in motorized carriages and specifically steam carriages in the early 1900s, becoming a dealer of Stanley steam cars at Auburn Heights. Partnering with his son-in-law Norman Mancill, a dealership was established in Wilmington selling Paige and other brands. By the late teens, Clarence had discovered trapshooting and formed the Yorklyn Gun Club, operating from 1921 until 1950. Tom Marshall’s Weekly News articles, archived and available for reading on this website (http://auburnheights.org/weekly-news-archive/), document many of his father’s activities related to trapshooting and automobiles.
In 1940, Clarence acquired a Stanley steamer he had sold in 1913 as a dealer. Now, occasionally referred to as the “Becker car,” the Stanley Model 76 touring car is a cornerstone of the Marshall collection and a favorite of this writer. Clarence continued to host events at Yorklyn Gun Club in the 1930s and 1940s, but his interests were evolving towards collecting steam cars. With World War II recovery in full swing and additional Stanley cars and parts purchased during the war, the Carriage House was full. Wanting to further expand the collection, Clarence established his “museum” in a new custom-built structure on the Auburn Heights property.
While we often say that Clarence “built” the museum, the actual construction was performed by a family relative. What Marshall family member was responsible in 1947 for the physical construction of the building now known as the Marshall Steam Museum?
Answer
The Marshall Steam Museum building, as originally constructed, is of simple design. Constructed on sturdy concrete footers under the lawn are reinforced cinder block walls. Steel trusses, constructed in an “attic truss” design, support the roof while permitting much of the second floor to be open space for storage (and future use by FAH). This design offered another advantage that Clarence insisted upon; there are no posts on the first floor to navigate vehicles around! Tom Marshall mentioned on several occasions that the Marshall Steam Museum was the largest open-span building constructed in Delaware at the time of completion.
Paul Hannum was the Marshall family member who constructed the Marshall Steam Museum for Clarence. Hannum had been the contractor that added “garage” to the Carriage House (the current shop area and where the AVRR engines are stored; see the October 7, 2006, Weekly News article about the addition) in 1937. As the Marshall granite quarry, which supplied stone for the building of the mansion, Carriage House, and the additions to both, was nearly played out, the Marshall Steam Museum would be constructed primarily of cinder blocks. The burning of coal generates cinders as waste. Francis Straub in 1911 realized that cinders mixed with cement led to a different way of making concrete blocks. Differing from concrete blocks since a cinder block will take a cut nail, Straub patented the cinder block in 1917 (Patent 1,212,840). No doubt the recycling of waste materials for the new building pleased Clarence.
To understand the family connection, we start with Thomas Smedley Marshall, Clarence’s grandfather. Thomas S. Marshall, the 5th child of Robert Marshall and Mary Hoopes, established T. S. Marshall & Sons, making industrial rag papers on the family farm at Marshall’s Bridge in Kennett Township. Thomas S. Marshall and Mary Way raised three children: Israel Way Marshall, Mary E. Marshall (Mitchell), and Thomas Elwood Marshall. T. Clarence was the fourth child of Israel W. and Elizabeth Cloud Mitchell.
Thomas S. Marshall’s brothers, Caleb and John, became the first to commercially manufacture terne plate (iron sheets coated with an alloy of tin and lead, a predecessor to galvanized sheet metal) in America. Brother Abner discovered Kaolin clay (a rich white clay used for fine china and other uses) on his property running alongside Yorklyn Road and began the first commercial mining of Kaolin in Delaware. The middle child of Thomas’s five children, Martha Marshall married Thomas Hannum. Thomas and Martha’s eldest child, nicknamed “Marsh” for Marshall Hannum, was Israel Marshall’s cousin. Marsh’s eldest son, Paul Hannum, was not only a second cousin of T. Clarence, and he was the contractor responsible for actually designing, to Clarence’s requirements, and constructing the museum for Clarence in 1947. In April and May 1922, Paul Hannum was advertising for carpenters and laborers as the Evening Journal ad shows.
For a number of years, Clarence’s museum was packed full of vehicles. Thirty Stanley steam cars have passed through the collection over the years (for a listing see the March 7, 2016 newsletter). There were also White, Doble, Toledo, and Locomobile steam cars that Clarence stored in the museum building. While Clarence was in partnership with Frank Diver selling Packards, Clarence’s car trading included ownership of Pierce Arrow, Ford, Maxwell, Oldsmobile, and Rolls Royce automobiles among a few others. Once Clarence and Tom decided to open the property in April 1961 to raise funds for Historic Red Clay Valley, Inc., the collection in the museum was greatly reduced so that visitors might enjoy the mostly Stanley collection.
The museum building has probably never been totally emptied of vehicles until this past winter when the museum was cleaned out entirely for a facelift after 73 years. While the Marshalls maintained the building in excellent condition and no structural deficiencies required attention, the museum building’s amenities required updating for Friends of Auburn Heights events and use. The continually peeling gray-painted floor has been upgraded with an epoxy coating. An addition adds modern bathrooms, a dedicated room for the Lionel trains, and a lobby area with gift shop.
Stanley steam cars require non-freezing storage in the winter if their boilers and waters systems are not drained. Thus, a minimal heating system had been installed 73 years ago, which has since been upgraded with modern, efficient heat pumps that provide energy-efficient heating for visitors, humidity control, and cooling for the summer months, better protecting the collection. The original 3×2/3×2 windows were removed, restored, and reinstalled. The ceiling has been reinsulated using modern materials and covered with drywall to improve the building’s flammability ratings. For the time being, readers will have to follow our museum improvements virtually. FAH hopes to host limited groups in the not-too-distant future.
