Tuesday, July 5, 2016

The First Automobile in Lake County, Revisited

I came across this tidbit in the "General News Items" of the Hobart Gazette of December 22, 1899: "The Hammond News says Oliver W. Merrill, of Merrillville, has purchased an automobile at a cost of $1,000, which will be the first one in Lake county."

I've read the 1900 microfilm already, and failed to notice any items about the abilities of Oliver's new $1000 machine, such as those that adorned the social columns after Charles F. Blank's 1901 Locomobile purchase. So perhaps the "Hammond News" was mistaken.

1 comment:

Rachel said...

That would be about a $28,000 car in today's money. Maybe he just wanted to keep it to himself :)