Gasoline carriage debuts on Broadway
May 30, 1897: J. Philip Erie, described in The Times as “a wealthy New York civil engineer and inventor,” rolled his $30,000 gasoline carriage out of a garage on 5th Street, cranked it up and took off.
About eight people were aboard as his carriage went down Broadway to 6th Street, south on Main to 7th Street and then east to his home in Boyle Heights. Erie conducted further trials, but engine overheating was an unsolvable problem.
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