Maxwell cars and the New Castle factory
Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company began life in 1904, in the former Mobile Steamer factory in Tarrytown, New York, building just a handful of cars. The “Maxwell” in the name was John D. Maxwell, who had started by helping Elwood Haynes to build the first Haynes car; he later worked with Ransom Olds and other auto pioneers. “Briscoe” was Benjamin Briscoe, a metal stamping manufacturer who ended up with a 97% interest in the Buick Motor Company as repayment of a $3,500 loan to David Dunbar Buick in 1903. Maxwell convinced Briscoe to throw in with him instead of David Buick.
By 1905, thanks to innovations such as using a shaft drive instead of the usual chain drive, business was booming; they sold 542 cars in the first half of the year.
In 1905, a second factory was leased in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. For 1906, yet more production capacity was needed, so a third factory was opened in Chicago. Production continued to increase and yet more production capacity was needed.
| 1924 | Maxwell | Chrysler |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson Ave. | 48,124 | 31,020 |
| Windsor | 1,920 | 429 |
| 1925 | Maxwell | Chrysler |
| Jefferson Ave. | 27,153 | 105,190 |
| Windsor | 3,593 | 1,613 |
A new factory in New Castle solved the space problems for Maxwell for a while. Construction began in early 1907; on August 13, 1907, at 8:55 AM, production began. The plant was dedicated by the Vice-President of the United States, Charles W. Fairbanks on June 22, 1907, even though the facility was only half completed. When actually put into operation it was still lacking the roof in some areas.
In 1909, Maxwell-Briscoe was the third largest American automaker, with 9,400 sales per year, and $3 million profit since the company’s founding. To prove the mettle of their cars, Maxwell sponsored a historic national cross-country drive, the first such drive by a woman with a female mechanic; the drive is being replicated in 2009 in a re-created 1909 Maxwell.)
More significantly, in 1909 the Briscoe brothers created the United States Motor Company, which encompassed Maxwell-Briscoe, Brush, Dayton Motor Car Co., Courier Car Co., Columbia Motor Car, and Alden Sampson [read about those companies]. The idea came from the consolidation of smaller companies to produce General Motors, at around the same time. The U.S. Motor Company lasted for three years, during which time Briscoe lost control of the company, due to overexpansion. Standard Motor Company bought its assets, free of debt, along with Flanders Motor Company; and one month later, Standard renamed itself to Maxwell Motor Company, to match its most popular car.
While the executives shuffled company deeds, New Castle built the popular 4-cylinder Maxwell cars, until 1911, when the plant was converted to making parts.
In 1912 and 1913, Maxwell Motor Company ended production of the Columbia (which dated to the 19th century), Brush, Stoddard, and Courier, and sold the original plants in Tarrytown, Providence, and Hartford. Just three plants were kept; the former Stoddard factory in Dayton (now producing the Maxwell 35), the Detroit plant (Maxwell Six), and the New Castle plant.
In 1916, the Forge and Hammer Shop was erected to house large steam operated hammers; New Castle became the home of the largest automotive forge plant in the country.
Maxwell joined forces with Chalmers when they needed more production, and Chalmers had excess capacity with low sales. The combination worked well until problems with Maxwell cars caused the company to collapse, and Walter P. Chrysler was called in to rescue it. He saw his chance to finally emblazen his name on a car company, rescued Maxwell-Chalmers, and created a new corporation; the assets of Maxwell-Chalmers were moved into it.
Thus, on June 25, 1925, the New Castle plant became one of the original six plants of the new Chrysler Corporation.
By 1934 there was a record setting 6,700 employees working at the New Castle plant. (I had the opportunity to speak with one of those employees, standing outside the plant, and he remembers building Maxwell parts as late as 1935. He had joined Chrysler in 1933.)
In the 1950s, New Castle produced over 150 separate parts for all Chrysler Corporations cars and trucks. There was no Chrysler car or truck built without parts from the New Castle plant. Among the parts produced there were Oriflow shocks, steering gears assemblies, tie rods, truck axles and front end assemblies, transmission parts, and connecting rods.
New Castle has kept changing as the Chrysler Corporation has changed, but the plant has soldiered on. In 1987, the plant became part of Accustar, Chrysler's new parts division, but it returned to Chrysler in 1989. The plant remained within the Chrysler fold until 2002, when it became part of a joint venture with Metaldyne, as part of DaimlerChrysler’s selloff plan. At this time, thanks to Daimler, New Castle is no longer part of Chrysler in any way.
What is amazing in all of this is that the original 1907 factory still stood into the 21st century, and was used for nearly a century. It remained in very original condition. You will notice the factory behind many of the cars in the accompanying photos.
The Maxwell centennial celebration at the New Castle plant began as a dream of one man, Paul Niles, five years ago. Celebrate the history of Maxwell, built in his hometown, by members of his family. Paul, his wife Rosemary, and others in his family worked in the New Castle, Indiana plant for more than combined 142 years. And the foundation on which Chrysler Corporation was built by Walter P. Chrysler in the 1920s.
Efforts were made to get as many Maxwells and their owners to come to New Castle as possible, and approximately 90 Maxwells were in attendance. About 750 Maxwells are known to exist today. As you will note from the photographs the majority of the cars present were from the era 1904 to 1915, though Maxwell production continued until 1925 when they became the basis for the four-cylinder Chrysler and the first Plymouths.
[Allpar’s update: the plant remained in production until 2009. In January 2010, the D’Arcinoff Group signed a letter of intent to build wind turbines in the plant.]
We owe a large thank you to Paul for his vision, and to the many volunteers who made this event happen. It will never be repeated again.
Recreation of historic 1909 Maxwell drive
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