Lambert Day History
Please help yourself to these images (on my entire site) to print, share, post —
Info Blogs
Ivanhoe Avenue rides for the kids in the Lambert
Thanks to Robert Gowdy for sharing this precious photo of a ride he took when we were kids living on the same street back in Dayton, Ohio. In the photo are my dad, my two brothers, one Gowdy and perhaps a young Moon. The year is around 1958 and Dad’s car lived in a garage […]
Jim Swoveland, America’s First Passenger – Interview 1962
This article appeared in a California paper, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, on Monday, August 20, 1962. The writer Earl Wilson was a widely syndicated columnist who although he lived his adult life in Manhattan, was born in Mercer County, Ohio. From his 1987 obituary: Harvey Earl Wilson was born into a farm family in Rockford, […]
Aunt Lib Cook’s letter about early childhood memories
at the top of this typed letter it says “From Aunt Lib Cook:” who was John’s eldest sister. There is no date. I have typed it as it is originally typed. Dear Mary, Homer, Lucille and all: The first trip G.A. and I took together, Mother knit a pair of stockings for Mrs. Metcalf and […]
Lamberts in Museums
Carillon Historical Park, James F. Dicke Family Transportation Center in Dayton, Ohio https://www.daytonhistory.org/private-event-rental/james-f-dicke-family-transportation-center/ Lambert 1909 Touring Car in Fulton, Missouri http://www.visitflyovercountry.com/2013/10/fulton-mo-auto-world-museum.html I am checking on reports of one in Alaska and one in Indianapolis..
Ray Lambert’s Essay on his Father’s First Car
In 1937 my grandfather Ray Lambert wrote about his father John William Lambert’s process as John built America’s first car. Ray grew up with the car industry. He was a three-year-old toddler when his father built the sturdy, unique self-propelled buggy in Ohio City, Ohio in 1891. Ray remembered riding in it. As a young […]
A Brief Biography of John William Lambert
John William Lambert was the third of ten children, born on January 29, 1860 to farming parents who had settled in Ohio before the Civil War after leaving Lost Mountain, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. The family farm of John’s birth was near Mechanicsburg, Ohio. There were aunts and uncles and cousins nearby. During the War, John’s […]
Here is the Evidence that Proved John William Lambert Invented America’s First Gasoline Automobile
There are several pieces of evidence that Antique Automobile Editor L. Scott Bailey had to determine John Lambert’s 1891 vehicle was the first gasoline powered car in America. These important historical documents are held by the Smithsonian Institution. the photograph taken by Van Wert photographer Walter Lewis and his sworn statement with the time and […]
Antique Automobile, Vol.24 No.5, Oct./Nov., 1960
This issue of Antique Automobile includes the article by L. Scott Bailey, which elucidates the claim that Ohioan John Lambert deserves the credit for building America’s first automobile, “1891 Lambert, A New Claim for America’s First Gasoline Automobile”. He settles the dispute played out until this time in history. This is the article that settles […]
Testing their vehicles
This may look like a carnival ride but its intent was much more serious. John himself liked to test drive each vehicle as it came out of his factory and so built a colossal wooden structure on the property across from the factory in Anderson. It’s ramp angled up at 45 degrees to a level […]
