In 1909 Modern America lurched forward when Henry Ford introduced his Ford Model T sport runabout and Stanly Steamer produced a two seat automobile. It wasn’t a full year later until they began appearing in Cuyahoga Falls.
Cornelius M. Walsh had the first car in town, a Ford Model T. Dr. Floyd Smith purchased the second car of the same model. Both used the ‘Old North Hill’ as the test run for their cars. They found that the cars would only haul the driver back up the hill, the rest had to walk up. Louis Cook was the next to own an automobile and living on the east side, he used the East Portage Street hill to get home and it never failed – he needed help getting the machine up the hill. The fourth car, purchased in the spring of 1912 was owned by the local butcher, Harry Roethig. These four men were the talk of the town.
In 1914 the Stutz Bearcat was released and became a well-known American sports car of the pre- and post-World War One period. It became a famous status symbol of the wealthy with its open body, style and its reputation for winning races. It was built with a four or six cylinder engine, it carried a $2,000 price tag which was quite steep in those days. It amazingly came in four colors: vermillion, yellow, monitor grey and red with black and nickel trim. It wouldn’t be long before the wealthier of Cuyahoga Falls’ citizens added this “motorcar” to the streets.
By 1934 the Falls had automobiles like the Model T, Stanly Steamer, the Bearcat, the Cord, the Pierce Arrow, Packard Convertible and the Duesenberg Model SJ on its streets. Street races and other competitions became a popular pastime.
Berner Eli Oldfield, an Ohioan, became the first man to drive a car a mile a minute. In a five-mile race, his car, designed by Henry Ford, was clocked at 5:28 in 1903. By 1910 he set a new speed record of 131.724 miles per hour. On Labor Day in 1914, Oldfield challenged “Daredevil” Thompson and his airplane at the Silver Lake Park on the quarter mile horse track. Berner Oldfield and his race car won. I’m sure everyone thought it was a “dilly” or possibly the “cat’s pajamas”.
Copyright © 2014 Cuyahoga Falls: River of Memories by Jeri Holland
The question of who owned the first automobile in Cuyahoga Falls sparked some friendly competition and spirited debates among Fallsites. William Lodge, whose family owned Silver Lake Park, wrote that he purchased the first automobile shipped into Cuyahoga Falls in 1902. He wrote this colorful description of the challenges of driving those early vehicles: “Even though I bought the first automobile ever shipped into Cuyahoga Falls in the spring of 1902, I found it to be useless for business and it was risky business for one to take his best girl out for a ride unless he was prepared to walk home, which we sometimes did, then reverted to the horse and buggy after using a team to pull the stranded automobile home.” – Mary McClure