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How did the automobile affect Ann Arbor’s society?
- Before the 1900’s, horses and buggies were used to get around town. Walker’s Livery was the largest livery in the city, with 30 horses (Shackman 39). Cars made life easier for most, for others it was a hard concept to grasp.
- The first automobile dealership in Ann Arbor was Staebler & Sons. They received a demonstration model of their first design - a three-wheeled car called the Trimoto. When they found it couldn’t make it up the hill to their store, they traded it in the next year for a Toledo Steamer (Shackman 37).
- Cars did not catch on right away in Ann Arbor (shockingly with Ann Arbor being so close to Detroit). In 1906, Staebler said, “This is a peculiar town. Our population is 18,000 and we have not over a dozen machines here. Half of those are used but very little” (Ann).
- The number of cars in Ann Arbor nearly quadrupled in two years (from 12 in 1906 to 40 in 1908) (Ann).
- In 1914, Walker’s Livery became Walker’s Cab Company, exchanging his horses for cars (Shackman 40)
"Edward Staebler in a Toledo Steamer,1901" (Shackman 37)
What did the effect of cars mean to society back then?
- Cars were the key to growth and relationship with the outside world (Ann).
- In 1921, the first hard roads were paved to Jackson (Ann).
- In 1924, the road was paved between Ypsi and Ann Arbor (Ann).
- “The automobile altered recreational life for Ann Arborites. A drive through the countryside replaced the canoe trip down the Huron. A favorite destination was Whitmore Lake. Once a social center for special occasions, such as class, church, or fraternal picnics, only a single hotel had graced its wooded shores. Now the lake was encircled by the summer cottages of Ann Arbor residents and the shoreline featured a number of hotels and boarding houses, two dance halls, and several large bathing beaches . . . Under the impact of the automobile, Ann Arbor expanded outward beyond the streetcar tracks, and more affluent individuals who worked elsewhere began to move into the area. While Ann Arbor always had a significant number of well-to-do residents who worked outside the city, they increased at a great rate, numerically and proportionally, during the latter half of the decade. By the early '20's they had already established a pattern of leaving Ann Arbor during the warm weather for summer homes at nearby lakes.” (Ann)
"Walker Livery. . . 1912" (Shackman 39)
"Huron Street. . . 1940" (Shackman 38)
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