Automobiles in 1908 Were an Adventure

 This photo and caption reproduced below were authored by Hotel Lafayette owner, local historian, and accomplished photographer S. Durward Hoag. This was one of his entertaining Marietta Times columns “Round and Round Below the Railroad Tracks” from the 1960s and 1970s. Spelling and punctuation are from the article.

 

ROUND AND ROUND DELVES INTO MARIETTA’S EARLY AUTOMOTIVE HISTORY; DISCOVERS ENACTMENT OF “NO. 1 RULE OF THE HIGHWAY”!

     This photo was taken on Newport Pike in the fall of 1908. The cast of characters and the automobile are easily identified by YE EDITOR after a number of years studying vintage photographs of early 1900 local scenes and Mariettans. LEFT is Mr.and Mrs. L. L. PEDDINGHAUS and in the rear seat are Mr. and Mrs. WM G. YOUNG. The automobile is a 1908 No. 34 RAMBLER, Brewster Green (color) and equipped with Dunlop tires. This is the 4th Rambler purchased by Mr. Peddinghaus who lived at 428 Fourth Street. The car license number is No. 28 - the first such tags issued by the State of Ohio and this particular plate does not have a year date on it.

     On the RIGHT is a POPE TOLEDO automobile, owned by Mr. and Mrs. TOM SHEETS  who lived in the big white home at Third and Sacra Via now occupied by the Marietta City School Board. Occupying the front seat with Mrs. Sheets is the Sheets’ family dog TOWSER. In back are the HAMILTON  sisters who resided on Fifth Street. Worth mentioning is the fact that the SHEETS automobile won FIRST PRIZE for being beautifully decorated in the 1908 Fourth of July parade. Maybe the two pretty Hamilton Sisters in the rear seat might have influenced the judges’ decision.

     But back to “RULE NO. 1” on the highway in 1908 (which) was “Stop and help your unfortunate neighbor.” For you see, TOM SHEETS has the hood raised on his POPE TOLEDO (vehicle on the right in the photo) and is tinkering aplenty. It looks like friend PEDDINGHAUS is about to jump down and assist - or maybe is chiding TOM a little. Or, on second thought…..this man LEW PEDDINGHAUS besides being an expert jeweler, was also a remarkable photographer with an uncanny sense of proportion and drama. He also had a cagey device, little known in 1908 - an automatic timer. He might just have set up his tripod, focused his camera, and engineered this dramatic scene for the record in the tried-and-true manner of Hollywoodian experts….

     This was the day of right-hand steering wheels, acetylene headlights, air bulb horns, and when you had a (flat tire), you got out your kit and tire pump and you worked and you pumped and pumped and pumped. Many thanks to HAROLD BARTMESS, 129 Muskingum Drive who unearthed the photograph of the good old old days, nearly 60 years ago.

Note: Mr. Peddinghaus’s jewelry business was sold in 1918 to Walter A. Baker, your author’s grandfather, and his cousin Henry Baker. The store became Baker & Baker Jewelers, operated today by Larry Hall and his family.