American Napier Automobile Company

1906 American Napier (picture found online)



Napier was a British manufacturer of automobiles in the early twentieth century. An American Napier company was formed to assemble parts shipped from Britain for sale in the United States. The Napier Motor Company of America opened their factory in part of the old B.F. Sturtevant blower plant between Green and Williams streets in 1904.
You can see the location of the company here. Look in the upper right, near the Jamaica Plain (Green street) train station.

I haven't been able to find much information on the cars, but the company was in the news in at least two occasions. In 1906, an injunction was requested against local 264 of the International Association of Machinists, restraining them from interfering with the operation of the Napier motor company and from meeting or patrolling near the factory.



The union men of the factory had gone on strike protesting the firing of workers. The company claimed that the men had threatened workers who would not join the union, while the union said that the men had refused to sign an agreement to pay for tools spoiled during work.

In a hearing in the court of Judge Fessenden, the judge seemed to respect the rights of labor organizations to strike. He had granted an injunction to a union in the past, and suggested that the two parties come to an agreement.

The court heard evidence from non-union workers that they had been threatened by union workers. The union men denied the charges. When three men were fired by the company, sixty union men went on strike in their support.

Days later, Judge Fessenden granted the injunction, and the matter disappeared from the news.

In March of 1909, the company was back in the news, this time because of bankruptcy. The company was reorganized and put under new management. The same arrangement with British Napier was retained, A medium priced roadster and a light delivery wagon were planned, and negotiations were under way with a taxi service for several hundred taxicabs to be built. The company also established a repair department at the plant.



The next month, 10,000 shares of preferred stock of the American-Napier Company was offered to the public.

"The Napier companies assets consist of a thoroughly equipped plant covering 4 acres and capable of turning out two complete cars per day, as soon as the desired additional force of men is put to work, also of complete parts - mostly imported for immediate assembling of a number of cars. To this can be added the American rights to the Napier, estimated at $30,000 per year in experimental work and designs alone.

"Dividends at the rate of 7 per cent per annum are payable quarterly, beginning the calendar year. The next dividend date is July 1.

"The automobile industry was never in better shape than at present. The big factory of American-Napier Company at Jamaica Plain is rushed with work for spring delivery. The repair department, established to accommodate the thousands of owners of good cars in Greater Boston, is working to capacity."


And that's the last mention I can find of the Napier Company of Jamaica Plain. The company seems to have survived until 1912, only to be replaced in Jamaica Plain - in another former Sturtevant building - by the Farnham & Nelson automobile company, as I've discussed here.



Boston Daily Globe March 9, 1906, March 14, 1906, March 7, 1909

Jamaica Plain At The Wheel - 1909

This list of Jamaica Plain automobile owners comes from the 1909 Blue Book directory, by way of the Jamaica Plain News. I had to make the lists into graphics to fit them to the page, so you can click on them to get a full-sized image for easier reading. The Boston Blue Book at this time did include Jamaica Plain and Brookline, but they seem to only list residents from the "better" parts of the district, and that practice seems to hold here. No sign of Custer or Williams street - "No Irish Need Apply"? In spite of the fact that it's not a comprehensive list, it's still pretty cool.

Isn't the variety great? Maybe the best of all was the enterprising gentleman who built his own. By number, you get:

Acme (1), American (1), Atlas (1), Autocar (3), Bay State (1), Berkshire (1), Blomstrom (1), Buick (3), Cadillac (3), Cleveland (2), Corbin (1), Crest (1), Duryea (1), Ford (3), Franklin (1), Jeffery (4), Kissell (1), Knox (1),Locomobile (1), Louis (1), Matheson (1), Maxwell (1),Mitchell (2) Mora (1), Nordyke (2), Olds (6), Packard (6), Pierce (4), Pope (6), Prescott (1), Rainier (1), Reo (1), Speedwell (1), Stanley (6), Stearns (1) Stevens (10), Studebaker (1), Thomas (2), Triump (1), Walter (1), Wayne (1), White (2), Winston (3), one "own make" and 5 sadly unnamed electrics. I'm not sure what to make of the Triump - is it a typo? The links provided here may not go to the correct company - there's some confusion in the names. Names like Bay State and Berkshire make for a needle-in-a-haystack Google search. Many of the companies were regional, if not exactly local. Ahhh for the day any bicycle mechanic could start building automobiles.

Holtzer-Cabot - Made In Jamaica Plain

Bromley, 1924 (BPL).




I found this picture online - the year is right for manufacture in Jamaica Plain. Isn't that cool? Read more about it here.

The map on top shows the Holtzer Cabot factory in 1924. By this time, they were making electrical equipment, and the automobiles were long gone.

Car Talk

I found this picture online. Someone was auctioning it off. The body is by Farnhan Nelson.



I have a particular interest in manufacturing in Jamaica Plain. I suppose there are two reasons. First, the Jamaica Plain I grew up in was almost exclusively residential and retail. There was some industry on Washington Street between Forest Hills and Green Street, but in any case I didn't pay attention to it. Second, I've worked in factories, and I have a general interest in old machine tools and technology. I certainly would never have guessed that Jamaica Plain was home to more than one automobile manufacturing plant. I had a little Detroit just up the street and I had no idea!

Near the top of this 1914 map, you can see the pink (brick) buildings of the former Sturtevant Blower Works. Near where Union avenue makes its right angle turn, you can see the Farnham and Nelson name on an angled brick building, part of the old Sturtevant facility.

No Radar Gun Here!

The date of this story makes it interesting. When did they change from "autoist" to "motorist"?



Boston Daily Globe October 5, 1908

Many Caught In Auto Trap

Police Keep Watch on Arborway Course.

Threaten With Arrest Persons Who Warned Autoists.

Fourteen to Face Court on Speeding Charges.

The automobile trap in the Arborway at Forest Hills was in excellent working order yesterday, and during its operation by Sergts Gilman and hennessey of division 13, Jamaica Plain, assisted by patrolmen Forbes and Egan, 14 alleged violators of the speed rules in parks were gathered in.

The one-eighth mile trap is located in a particularly dangerous part of the parkway. It is down grade across South St, dips under the bridge of the NY,NH & H railroad, and then the autoist is compelled to cross the tracks of the elevated railroad in Washington St under the elevated structure.

The trap was set at 9:30 and was worked until 11:15. For a time the officers had no difficulty in catching violators. A crowd of spectators took positions of vantage to watch the officers.
After a while the police noticed that, although there were just as many autos on the Arborway, the operators had a wise look in their eyes and all of them were moving at a speed less than 10 miles an hour.

Sergt Hennessey sent for the police auto and with patrolman Fred Brauer as chauffeur rode through the Arborway to Centre St, where he discovered a crowd of young fellows who were warning autoists of the trap.

It took Sergt Hennessey and patrolman Brauer but a short time to break up the crowd of informers, with the threat that if they caught them doing the same thing again they would arrest them.

Later Sergt Gilman got into the police auto and by a roundabout route reached the arborway near Centre St. On his way through the parkway road a man came out of the bushes, waved his hand to Sergt Gilman, who was in citizen's dress, and warned him "Look out, the police are working a trap at the top of the hill."

The informer was told to go on his way or he would be arrested for interfering with the duty of a police officer. He ran as fast as he could till out of sight. But those autoists who had been caught in the Arborway trap had many of them gone back over the parkway roads and informed other autoists of the operating of the trap, and business was soon after suspended for the day by the officers.

The autoists who were held up will probably appear in the municipal court at Jamaica Plain some time this week. All were residents of the state, so no arrests were made.