DREW CARRIAGE COMPANY
Ontario, California: Drew Carriage Company, circa 1917. Scarce promotional photo album produced by one of California’s largest farm implement dealerships. Oblong quarto (12” x 9 1/2”), with 14 unnumbered leaves and 13 silver gelatin photographs that measure 7 ¾” x 9 3/4” and are mounted on thick gray paper stock. Includes an image of the front of the Ontario, California dealership with a Model T parked out front, followed by views of the showroom’s ornate tin ceiling, and advertisements for a variety of products, including Oliver plows and harrows and Keen Kutter knives and cutlery. Most of the photographs show the engine and operation of the newly introduced kerosene-powered International Harvester 8-16 Tractor. The images also show the tractor harrowing orchard groves and fields and a final image of the company’s founder, Frederick A.C. Drew, with his wife and company officials and friends. According to a city history, the introduction of gas-powered tractors in Ontario began to change the layout of the citrus groves by adding roads to allow access for these vehicles. The Ontario Town Square is located on the previous Drew Carriage Company site.
Drew (1878-1919) founded the carriage company in 1902 after closing his father’s undertaking business. He was considered the best salesman on the Pacific Coast but died tragically of the flu in 1919 while traveling to an International Harvester sales meeting in Chicago. The carriage company was managed by his wife until their son was old enough to take over the business, which later became an automotive paint supplier for DuPont and moved to Montclair, California.
A small embossed stamp on the front cover reveals the images in this album were photographed by Brock Higgins, Santa Barbara. W.W. Higgins (1856-1930) and his brother-in-law, John Brock, operated a Los Angeles photo supply and photography studio from 1897-1930. Unfortunately, most of the company’s glass plate negatives were destroyed in the 1925 earthquake.
Original printed gray paper wrappers, punch-sewn with a faded lavender-color ribbon at spine, and the company name stamped in gilt on the front panel, which is edgeworn and chipped with a pencil notation (“old fashioned implements”). Item #74396
Price: $1,500.00