From Chugwagon to Parkway: The Development of Automotive Transportation in Arizona, 1900-1940
Rodda J. 1991. From Chugwagon to Parkway: The Development of Automotive Transportation in Arizona, 1900-1940. Arizona State Parks Board
From introduction: "Arizona's first automobile belonged to its originator L.D. Copeland a nationally-recognized automotive pioneer and mining engineer who lived in Phoenix. In the early 1880s, Copeland built a primitive motorcycle by attaching a steam engine to his new Star bicycle. He exhibited the motorcycle in the first territorial exhibition in Phoenix in 1884. By 1887 this machine evolved into a three-wheeled automobile. During this period Copeland navigated his newfangled inventions in and around Phoenix reaching speeds of up to twenty miles an hour and causing consternation among the residents of the small town. Phoenicians complained about the odors smoke and noise emanating from the vehicle and horses reacted violently bolting in fear from the strange new beast. Copeland travelled back East several times to secure financial backing to build a factory and produce the machine for profit. He failed because most American capitalists at the time considered railroads to be transportation's future. Copeland finally sold his patents and turned to other interests but his innovative engineering principles influenced the later development of the American automobile." Funding was provided in part by a 1991 Historic Preservation Fund grant administered by the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (04-91-60001) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
- Type
- Generic Document
- Authors
- Rodda, Jeanette
- Date of Issue
- 1991
- Publisher
- Arizona State Parks Board
- Units
- HPF
- Keywords
- Historic Context Statements; Historic Resource Surveys (Resource Type)