Alexander Winton
Before Ford and Olds, there was Winton. In 1897, Alexander Winton — a Scottish-born Cleveland bicycle manufacturer — built and drove one of the earliest American production automobiles. In 1899 he drove from Cleveland to New York, the first long-distance car trip in American history. In 1903 he completed the first transcontinental automobile crossing of the United States. For the first decade of the automobile age, the Winton Motor Carriage Company was one of the three or four most prominent American automakers, and Cleveland was, for a few years, the center of the American automobile industry.
Winton was later overtaken by Ford, whose assembly-line production dramatically lowered unit costs, and by the Michigan industry cluster that formed around Detroit. The Winton company closed its automobile operations in 1924. Its successor firm, Winton Engine, was absorbed by General Motors in 1930 and became the Electro-Motive Division — which in turn transformed American railroading by building the diesel locomotives that ended the steam era.
From Bicycles to Automobiles
Alexander Winton was born on June 20, 1860, in Grangemouth, Scotland. He trained as a marine engineer and emigrated to the United States in 1878, eventually settling in Cleveland in 1884. He worked as a marine engineer for several Lake Erie shipbuilders through the 1880s, then in 1891 founded the Winton Bicycle Company to manufacture the new pneumatic-tired bicycles that were becoming a mass-market craze.
Bicycle manufacturing taught Winton two things: how to machine precision steel components in volume, and how to manage a small factory workforce. Both skills transferred directly to the new field that caught his attention in the mid-1890s: the self-propelled horseless carriage.
The Winton Motor Carriage
Winton built his first working prototype in 1896 — a single-cylinder gasoline-powered carriage that he drove around Cleveland's streets to the alarm of pedestrians and the interest of several wealthy Clevelanders. He founded the Winton Motor Carriage Company in 1897 and began the first regular production of American-made automobiles in the United States in that same year. By 1899 he had sold 22 cars — a tiny number by later standards, but at the time, a substantial commercial automobile operation.
In March 1899 Winton drove from Cleveland to New York City, the first long-distance automobile trip in American history. The trip took ten days. The 800-mile journey generated enormous press coverage and established Winton as the most publicly visible American automobile maker of the late 1890s.
The Transcontinental Crossing
In 1903 a former Vermont doctor named Horatio Nelson Jackson contracted with Winton for a car to attempt the first transcontinental crossing of the United States. Jackson and his mechanic Sewall Crocker drove a Winton touring car from San Francisco to New York in 63 days, between May 23 and July 26, 1903 — the first successful coast-to-coast automobile trip in American history. The Jackson-Crocker Winton is preserved at the Smithsonian.
At its peak (approximately 1902–1908), Winton Motor Carriage Company was among the three largest American automakers and one of a small cluster of Cleveland-based automakers — including the Peerless Motor Car Company and the White Motor Company — that made Cleveland the center of early American automobile manufacturing.
Detroit and After
Winton's business model — moderately-priced hand-built automobiles — was overtaken after 1908 by Henry Ford's assembly-line production, which cut unit costs dramatically. The Cleveland automotive cluster lost ground to Detroit's concentrated suppliers and labor market. Winton Motor Carriage ceased automobile production in 1924, but Winton had transitioned most of his operations to marine engines and (crucially) diesel engines during the 1910s.
The successor firm, Winton Engine Company, was acquired by General Motors in 1930 and became the Electro-Motive Division. EMD's two-stroke diesel locomotive engines (which descended directly from Winton's 1920s diesel development work) transformed American railroading during the 1940s and 1950s — replacing steam locomotives and fundamentally reshaping Great Lakes heavy industry.
Winton died on June 21, 1932 — one day after his 72nd birthday — in Cleveland.
Life Timeline
- Born in Scotland1860
June 20, Grangemouth. - Emigrates to US1878
Eventually settles in Cleveland in 1884. - Winton Bicycle Company1891
Founded in Cleveland. - First Automobile Prototype1896
Single-cylinder gasoline carriage. - Production Begins1897
Winton Motor Carriage Company produces the first American production cars. - Cleveland to New York1899
First long-distance auto trip in US history. - Transcontinental Crossing1903
Jackson-Crocker Winton drives SF to NYC in 63 days. - Auto Production Ends1924
Overtaken by Ford's assembly line. - Winton Engine to GM1930
Becomes the Electro-Motive Division. - Dies1932
June 21, age 72.