Auto industry / Science & invention
Charles Brady King
1868–1957 · engineer, automotive pioneer
Engineer who drove the first gasoline car on Detroit's streets on March 6, 1896, with Henry Ford following on a bicycle.
- Born
Angel Island, California- Died
Rye, New York
aged 89- Also known as
- Charles B. King
- Detroit years
- 1890s–1910s
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
King, born at an army post on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, worked as an engineer in Detroit in the 1890s and helped found the American Motor League, one of the country's first automobile clubs, in 1895. On March 6, 1896, he drove a motor buggy he had built in a Detroit machine shop out onto St. Antoine Street and along Jefferson and Woodward avenues, the first gasoline-powered car seen on the city's streets. Henry Ford, then an engineer at the Edison company, followed on a bicycle; his own Quadricycle ran three months later, and King lent him parts and advice. King went on to build marine engines, founded the Charles B. King Company in 1897 with backers including Henry B. Joy and Truman Newberry, and later ran the King Motor Car Company. He was also a painter, musician and architect, and was among the pioneers honored at the 1946 Automotive Golden Jubilee in Detroit.
Highlights
- First gasoline-powered car driven on Detroit streets, March 6, 1896
- Co-founder of the American Motor League (1895)
- Founded the King Motor Car Company
- Honored among the pioneers of the 1946 Automotive Golden Jubilee; Automotive Hall of Fame
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Related place · 1896
Route of the first car drive in Detroit (St. Antoine St, Jefferson Ave, Woodward Ave)
Status being checked
He set out from a machine shop on St. Antoine Street and drove along Jefferson and Woodward avenues on March 6, 1896.