Charles Edgar Duryea (December 15, 1861 – September 28, 1938) was an American engineer. He was the engineer of the second working American gasoline-powered car and co-founder of Duryea Motor Wagon Company.

Duryea and his brother Frank (1869–1967) were initially bicycle makers in Washington, D.C., but later became world-renowned as the first American gasoline-powered car manufacturers, headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts. Their design was inspired by a Benz gasoline-powered car that Charles saw at a fair in Ohio. Generally speaking, Charles engineered the automobiles, while Frank built, tested and raced them.

Tests of the Second American gasoline-powered automobile

On September 21, 1893, the Duryea brothers road-tested the second-ever American gasoline-powered automobile, after the Buckeye gasoline buggy invented in 1891 by John William Lambert. The Duryea's "motor wagon" was a used horse drawn buggy that the brothers had purchased for $70 and into which they had installed a 4 HP, single cylinder gasoline engine. The car (buggy) had a friction transmission, spray carburetor and low tension ignition.]]

On November 28, 1895, in Chicago, their vehicle, driven by brother Frank, had won America's first car race. It ran to Evanston, Illinois and back. The only other finisher was one of three Benz cars mostly made in Germany. After Frank won, demand grew for the Duryea Motor Wagon. In 1896, the Duryea Brothers produced 13 cars by hand – in their garage at 47 Taylor Street – and thus Duryea became the first-ever commercially produced vehicle, and also the largest automobile factory in the United States. in Philadelphia on September 28, 1938, and was buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery, West Oak Lane.

The annual Duryea Hillclimb is named in his honor.

The Charles Duryea Residence (located in Peoria's historic West Bluff district) was named a City of Peoria Historical Landmark in July 2015; automobiles were manufactured in a barn on the property, which is no longer standing. An automobile built in Duryea's barn in 1898 is on permanent display at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

See also

  • Elwood Haynes, previously credited with the first American gasoline automobile by the Smithsonian Institution

References

Further reading

Duryea, Charles; Homans, James E. (1916) The Automobile Book Sturgis & Walton, New York; at Open Library. The first chapter briefly surveys the early evolution of automobiles, with mention of his own involvement from 1891 and the famous victory of the Duryea Motor Wagon in the first London-to Brighton race (1996).