MTFCA Forum

Find a dealer in Pennsylvania -
(Interesting that all the original dealership buildings are still standing and in use)

Huntingdon Daily News (Pennsylvania)

News from 1922

Sept. 27, 1922
Charles Huston & Brother Open Ford Agency This Week — Charles Huston and Brother this week opened their temporary Huntingdon sales room at 335 Penn Street for Ford cars, trucks and tractors, and parts. This firm has handled Ford during the last ten years. They now have the sales agencies in Huntingdon, Mount Union and Three Springs. A member of the firm will be at the Huntingdon sales room at all times. Charles Huston and Brother are aggressive men and have been, to a large degree, instrumental in the development of automobile commerce in Huntingdon County. They are now the largest distributors of Fords and Ford parts in this section of the state.


News from 1924

Oct. 8, 1924
Huston Motor Co. To Erect Large Garage, ‘Ford Home’ — Huntingdon is to have another large, modern, fireproof garage. The Huston Motor Co. of Huntingdon yesterday afternoon took title to three properties on Allegheny Street, purchased from Mrs. Caroline Doyle, consisting of two brick dwelling houses and a vacant lot. The properties are located between Third and Fourth streets and front one-hundred feet on Allegheny Street and extend back a distance of ninety feet to the property of the Pennsylvania Railroad., enabling the unloading of cars in the warehouse from the railroad siding which adjoins the property. Chief architect Whittesley of the Pittsburgh branch of the Ford Motor Company was in Huntingdon yesterday afternoon, going over plans with Mr. Huston. It will be a modern, fireproof building, ninety by one-hundred feet. The number of stories has not yet been determined but no expense will be spared to give the public the most up-to-date sales and service facilities obtainable. Work will be started within the next thirty days and rushed to completion as rapidly as possible. The two brick houses are to be torn down. The Huston Motor Company will be composed of Mr. Amos Huston and other local men. Mr. Huston has been in charge of the Ford sales room at Fourth and Penn street for the past two years…and has over ten years’ experience in the automobile business. The Huston Motor Company of Huntingdon is in no way connected with the firm of Charles Huston and Brothers of Mount Union and Three Springs, with respect to ownership or management. The Huston Motor Company is an entirely separate and distinct affair.


Dealership circa 1921 Mount Union. Pa.

Thanks very much for these!

When I travel, I try to find where old Ford shops were. Usually it is obvious on main street in small towns, but a lot of towns it is hidden somewhere on a back street. It is hard to find the actual addresses, but I stumble on them occasionally when looking through old newspapers or news clippings.

I wish someone would compile a list of all the Ford addresses in the U.S, say from 1903 to 1920 or so. That would cover all the early Ford establishments. Ford probably has records of these, but digging through them might be quite a project.

You can hit the local libraries, and ask for "The City Directory" for a particular year, and they have all the local businesses and their addresses listed by streets or on maps. They also list most of the citizens who lived in the town, so it is possible to find out where your relatives lived.

Also, some cities, like Milwaukee, actually RE-ADRESSED the entire city at one point or another, and not only changed all the street numbering, but changed a lot of the street names as well. Fortunately, they also published a guide to number changes and street name changes, so it is possible to find an original address. I was looking for a Swedish tugboat captain in Milwaukee, and found the cross streets where his house once was, but it was now all commercial buildings from the 50's and 60's, so no trace of him remained.

Well, I felt someone was going to turn this into a string showing existing remaining early Ford dealerships, so it might as well be me.
The attached photos show the restored Colonial Revival style building built in 1914 which housed the Dawson Motor Co., Dawson, Georgia, up until about a dozen years ago when it closed.

The early ‘14 Southern Wide Track Runabout which is believed to have been housed most if its life sitting in the showroom was purchased by me last year from Dan Hatch, who bought it at auction when it closed. It is in the process of being preserved and I now have most all of the few missing parts which seem to have disappeared over the last hundred plus years, thanks in large part to Larry Smith and Kim Dobbins, along with a number of other kind folks.

So, not to get off topic here, enough for now of that and I soon plan to open a separate string for the car in order not to irritate any further the “Original” Larry Smith to whom I have promised a lot of photographs along with anyone else who may be interested.

One last piece of car info, I am told this car was never sold, registered nor titled, so, I was fortunate to have found an original Alabama 1914 tag and so my wife and I believe we are the first registered owner of this vehicle.

Ron in HSV

Thanks for posting this, Ron! Very interesting!

This would make you the owner of the LAST Model T Ford EVER to be registered!

Plus now you can tell people YOU ARE THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF THE CAR!

Interesting fenders!

Not to pull this way OT, but forgot to mention the fenders all around were replaced once upon a time with period accessory fenders. Note what I call an “outrigger” support (both sides). Neither look to be homemade. Still looking to figure who manufactured them. The dealership owner’s son in law mentioned something about a small mishap once upon a time that resulted in a right front fender replacement. Guessing they may have all been replaced at that time. I kind of like the different look it gives.

Headed to Florida before Thanksgiving to visit friends. Plan to arrange visit in Dawson, Georgia when passing through to talk with Chamber of Commerce and Dawson Historical Society to see what further I can find out. Same lady runs the C of C and Historical Society. More to come.

Thanks for your interest. I need to start a separate thread.

Ron in HSV

The dealership the car was purchased from. -
-
Retirement home for a 100 years --
--
Back for a visit --
Ready for a grooming