Auto industry / Business & brands / Politics
Roy D. Chapin
1880–1936 · co-founder and president of Hudson Motor Car Company, U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Olds test driver who co-founded the Hudson Motor Car Company in Detroit, named it for merchant J. L. Hudson, and later served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
- Born
Lansing, Michigan- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 55- Birth name
- Roy Dikeman Chapin
- Also known as
- Roy Dikeman Chapin Sr.
- Detroit years
- 1901–1936
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Chapin left the University of Michigan in 1901 to join Olds Motor Works in Detroit, where he worked as a test driver and publicist; in 1901 he drove a Curved Dash Olds from Detroit to the New York auto show, a well-publicized stunt. He later helped run the Thomas-Detroit company and in 1909 led the group of businessmen and engineers who founded the Hudson Motor Car Company, named for department store owner J. L. Hudson, who put up much of the money. Hudson began in a small plant at Mack Avenue and Beaufait Street, then moved to a large factory at Jefferson and Conner avenues. Its low-priced Essex coach helped popularize the closed car in the 1920s. Chapin was a leading voice for better highways and served briefly as Herbert Hoover's Secretary of Commerce in 1932–1933. He built a John Russell Pope–designed house in Grosse Pointe Farms, died in Detroit in 1936 and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Highlights
- Drove a Curved Dash Olds from Detroit to New York in 1901
- Co-founded the Hudson Motor Car Company in 1909
- The Essex coach helped make closed cars affordable in the 1920s
- U.S. Secretary of Commerce, 1932–1933
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
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.
Worked here · 1910–1936
Hudson Motor Car Company Jefferson Avenue plant
Demolished · 1910–1954
Hudson's main factory on a 22-acre site in Detroit's Fairview area; production ended after the 1954 merger into American Motors.
Buried here · 1936
Woodlawn Cemetery
He is buried in this Woodward Avenue cemetery, as is J. L. Hudson.
Lived here · 1927–1936
Roy D. Chapin House
Status being checked
Family home on Lake Shore Road designed by John Russell Pope, later architect of the Jefferson Memorial; private residence.