Locomobile Company of America
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| Industry | Automobile |
|---|---|
| Fate | Purchased, marque used until 1929 |
| Successor | Durant Motors |
| Founded | 1899 |
| Defunct | 1922 |
| Headquarters | Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States |
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Key people
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John Brisben Walker, Amzi L. Barber, Francis Edgar Stanley and Freelan O. Stanley |
| Products | Vehicles |
The Locomobile Company of America was a pioneering American automobile manufacturer founded in 1899. It was one of the earliest car manufacturers in the advent of the automobile age. For the first two years after its founding the company was located in Watertown, Massachusetts. Production was transferred to Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1900, where it remained until the company's demise in 1929. The company manufactured affordable, small steam cars until 1903, when production switched entirely to internal combustion-powered luxury automobiles. Locomobile was taken over in 1922 by Durant Motors and eventually went out of business in 1929. All cars ever produced by the original company were always sold under the brand name Locomobile.
The Locomobile Company of America was founded in 1899, the name coined from 'locomotive' and 'automobile'. John B. Walker, editor and publisher of the Cosmopolitan magazine bought the plans for an early steam-powered vehicle produced by Francis and Freelan Stanley for a price they could not resist: US$250,000 (with all of one car built, but 199 more ordered), promptly selling half to paving contractor Amzi L. Barber. Their partnership lasted just a fortnight; Walker went on to found Mobile Company of America at the Stanley works in Tarrytown, New York, while Barber moved house to Bridgeport, Connecticut, as Locomobile; the Stanley twins were named general managers. The Stanley twins founded the Stanley Motor Carriage Company in 1902, becoming the sharpest rival to Locomobile.
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