From horses and buggies to horseless carriages in Shreveport

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24-02-2025

The Caddo Parish Civil Rights Heritage Trail project is expanding its scope with a new series designed to help historic villages, towns, neighborhoods, and/or cities in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, investigate three different versions of their communities: the past, the present, and the future. Team members include Dr. Gary Joiner, Mik Barnes, Jaclyn Tripp, Dr. Laura Meiki, Dr. Jolivette Anderson-Douong, Dr. Amy Rosner, Dr. Rolonda Teal, and Brenton Metzler.
The team is now focusing on the history of the Cedar Grove neighborhood.
In the first article in the series on Cedar Grove, Dr. Gary Joiner (Professor of History at LSU Shreveport) showed us how a social movement in 1911 Shreveport drastically changed Cedar Grove.
In the second article of the series, Dr. Gary Joiner (LSU Shreveport Professor of History) will show us how Cedar Grove became a hub for automobile production in the early days of the horseless carriage.
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Did you know that Cedar Grove, now a neighborhood in Shreveport, was once home to multiple car manufacturing companies?
Here's how, and when, it happened.
By 1900, it was not very common to see gasoline being used to power an American vehicle. The nation was just beginning to leave behind the horse-and-buggy days, and it seemed that either electricity or steam would be the easiest way to power the Sunday afternoon drive.
On May 31, 1901, a reporter for the Shreveport Journal asked what would have seemed like an unbelievable question: 'Will New York City, during this century, see the day when horses will be barred from its streets?'
'Signs point toward the gradual abandonment of horses in cities, save for pleasure purposes and the general introduction of motor vehicles. Certainly the condition of busy streets would be enormously improved,' continued the Shreveport Journal article.
And though, at the time, the thought of giving up horses for motors on a large scale seemed outrageous, the Shreveport Journal was more correct than they could have imagined. By the early 1900s, horseless carriages were being manufactured in Shreveport. And by the end of the 1990s, cars and trucks were so common that most U.S. citizens had already forgotten what life had been like before the invention of the motor car.
And Cedar Grove, Louisiana played a role in America's transition from horses and carriages to motor cars.
'I have not been in Shreveport in many years, but I must say that I am astonished at her marvelous development,' Colonel F. W. Blees of the Blees Carriage Company, Macon, Missouri, told The Shreveport Journal in early Oct. 1903.
Blees had come to Shreveport with his company's General Manager, B. B. Breed, to strike a deal.
'A meeting of the Progressive league was scheduled, in which the inducements Shreveport would offer provided Colonel Blees could be induced to lcoate one of his factories here would have been set forth, but that part of the program was deferred until tonight,' wrote a reporter for The Shreveport Journal on Oct. 12, 1903.
The potential plant had the ability to give employment to 'scores and scores of skilled workmen and beyond that would serve as a leader for the location in Shreveport of other manufacturing enterprises.'
'Shreveport stands a fair show of having a large vehicle factory erected within her limits providing the proper inducements are offered the owners of the proposed plant,' wrote a reporter with The (Shreveport) Times on Oct. 11, 1903.
A few years prior, the Blees Carriage company had opened a Shreveport branch and placed Colonel W. H. Crosby at its helm. The company did a 'phenomenal' business in Shreveport.
'Colonel Blees' idea in the establishment of this factory was not so much for the profit that he might gain by such an investment, but to build up an industry which would afford employment to a large number of men, as it was his idea that happily employed mechanics and their families make good citizens, and in developing the city of Macon he was adding largely to the value of his real estate and business property holdings in and absent the city,' continued the article.
Unfortunately, Colon Blees died before the manufacturing plant could be created in Shreveport.
'The Joplin (Mo.) Globe contains and interesting news from Mcon, Mo., in a telegram telling of the wedding of Mrs. F. W. Blees to Capt. F. L. Leibling. Mrs. Blees is the widow of the late Col. F. W. Blees, president of the Blees Carriage Company and founder of the Blees Military Academy at Macon. The Blees company formerly had a branch establishment in Shreveport and Col. Blees had several times visited the city,' we learn in The Shreveport Journal, Oct. 4, 1907.
Cedar Grove was also home to an early automobile and truck manufacturing plant, The Louisiana Motor Car Company. The Bour-Davis automobile was produced in Detroit beginning in 1915, but starting in 1917, they were built in Cedar Grove.
An article published in the Mar. 3, 1918 (Shreveport) Times stated that the Louisiana Motor Car Company had been organized and incorporated to build automobiles in Shreveport. They planned to compete with other cars produced in the United States.
'It has been fully demonstrated that an automobile can be manufactured–not merely assembled–in Shreveport to serve the South that will be in the class with the best standard cars manufactured elsewhere at an enormous saving, which can be added to the normal profits,' stated the article.
Louisiana Motor Car Company sold shares of their stock to help fund the enterprise.
'That the Louisiana Motor Car Company will be a success can be easily prognosticated by the following premises: The mistakes of all other factories are before us. The proven scientific principles of accepted substantial construction are before us. All the developed and proven facts by all the leading automobile engineers are before us. We can buy the best and most up-to-date machinery known to the industry. We have thousands of the best automobile engineers to choose from,' claimed the company on pp. 12 of The (Shreveport) Times.
Then in March of 1919, Louisiana Motor Car Company made an announcement. They were proud to have purchased, on Apr. 20, 1916, the assets of Bour-Davis Motor Car Company.
Louisiana Motor Car Company stockholders selected the 'Louisiane' as the name of the car the company would soon produce. Mrs. A. R. Kilgore of Shreveport was given a car for suggesting the idea of naming the new car the 'Louisiane' in 1918.
The Bour-Davis Motor Car Company, prior to being purchased by the Louisiana Motor Car Company, had produced around 600 cars an spent hundreds of thousands in magazine advertising. Their cars had been sent to Denmark, Cuba, Australia, and across the United States.
A $1.8 million order reached the company in Feb. 1920. It was called one of the largest contracts for motor cars ever closed in the American South.
'Louisiana Motor Car Company is to deliver 1,000 cars by Jan. 1, 1921. The contract was made with the local automobile factory by C. W. McKay, representing the American Motors Corporation of 100 Broad street, New York City.'
All cars would be boxed for shipment from South Shreveport, also known as Cedar Grove. The boxing would require more than a thousand feet of good-grade lumber.
The touring cars were handmade, and weekly assemblies averaged four per week. Most parts were shipped via rail and assembled in Cedar Grove.
All Bour-Davis cars were high-end luxury models. When Ford offered vehicles only in black, Bour-Davis autos came in vibrant colors. The same engine, a six-cylinder Red Continental engine, powered all models.
The company produced a four-door open-touring car, a two-seat roadster, and five- and seven-passenger touring cars. The roadster cost $1,700 in 1917. According to the Consumer Price Index calculator, the comparative cost today (2025) would be $41,924.13. This figure is misleading, considering that World War I raged in 1917 and 1918, and the United States entered the conflict in April of that year. Fifteen pounds of peanut butter cost $3.88, and a two-pound package of coffee retailed at 44 cents.
The Cedar Grove Chamber of Commerce ran a lengthy promotional advertisement in the Shreveport Journal on October 26, 1921, page 51, lauding the town's strengths. It is not printed in its entirety:
'Cedar Grove!Shreveport's Greatest AllyA City of Factories, Homes, Schools and Churches Cedar Grove already has eighteen factories and supports its population of four thousand. These factories are not paper concerns, they are actualities. Some of them are being conducted on a large scale, and all of them are prosperous and growing.Negotiations are now underway for the for the erection of several other factories, the town's very active and efficient commercial club having the negotiations in charge. An invitation has been extended to investors and those interested in manufacturing enterprises everywhere to visit Cedar Grove and investigate the unparalleled advantages offered. Among these advantages may be mentioned cheap fuel and ample water supply from wells. Easily accessible, equitable climate conditions whereby any factory may be able to operate 365 days in every year if desired. Low tax rates. Cheap land for home building purposes, low rents, excellent social conditions: splendid schools, churches, clubs, and fraternal organizations.Although Cedar Grove is 5 miles away from the Caddo Parish Courthouse, it is by many considered a part of Shreveport because the railroad, several macadamized roads, and the electric streetcar railways afford such easy means of intercommunication between the two points, and for the further reason that the territory between Saint Vincent College and the Cedar Grove residential section has been built up so rapidly within the last two years that the two places have almost merged. Indeed, it is only a question of a short time until all ther vacant lots between Shreveport proper and Cedar Grove will be utilized.Many persons, even in Shreveport, do not realize the tremendous importance of Cedar Grove as a residential and industrial section. The place now has a population estimated. At near 4000, ninety per cent of whom, it has been computed, own their own homes.There is no such thing as a vacant house in Cedar Grove and real estate agents have long waiting lists of people who are seeking homes in this prosperous little manufacturing city.Added to Cedar Grove's important industrial enterprises, are five active oil refineries with a large output of gasoline and byproducts. These refineries give employment to numerous men at good salaries, most of whom own their own homes and are contented, prosperous, and happy. Several of the nation's largest glass blowing concerns are located in Cedar Grove and give employment to many skilled workers who are paid larger salaries than ordinary mechanics. These glass factories have proven to be successful from the time they were built up to the present, and the prospects are good for several more to be established here within the next two years.Among the factories of importance here are the glass factories, the automobile factory, the colossal lumber mills, the automobile wheel factory; the window glass factory; the bottle factory where all manner of bottles are manufactured and shipped away in carloads; the lamp, the lamp chimney factory; the carbon black factory; the insect powder factory; the foundry where all kinds and descriptions of castings were made, and the cement block factory and the Western Silo factory.These factories derive their great advantage from the use of gas fuel being so near the great Caddo gas fields, this fuel is obtained at a cost far below that of any other fuel.With what will be of interest to the entire world is the Glass Coffin factory, now nearing completion and which will soon be in active operation in Cedar Grove. This enterprise is one, and probably the largest of only three or four such enterprises in the entire United States. The coffins and caskets to be manufactured in, it is believed, will revolutionize the coffin industry in this country. The glass coffins are hermetically sealed and are moisture proof as well as vermin proof and persons buried. In these receptacles may be unearthed thousands of years hence and in the same identical condition as when interred. The enterprise is sponsored by the National Glass Casket Company. The operation of this plant will require a number of skilled workmen. At present, several new business buildings are being erected on 70th St. at a cost of approximately $35,000, and it is understood contracts have been let for the erection of buildings on the lots recently devastated by fire. Numerous residences are being built in the various sections of the town and, all in all, Cedar Grove is just about the busiest town in North Louisiana.The Cedar Grove tax rate is only five mills. Bonds have been voted for. The commencement of an extensive system of Water Works also for the building of a $25,000 town hall. Work on these enterprises will be inaugurated in a very short time, and within a year, it is believed that water mains will supply the entire town with an ample supply of pure, soft, and potable water to be derived from a series of deep wells. Failing in this, a connection with Shreveport's unsurpassed and inexhaustible water supply will always be available.Not the least of the important institutions of Cedar Grove is the Commercial Club, composed of the best business and professional men of the town, who are constantly at work for its upbuilding and improvement and who are ever ready with their money, their time, and the weight of their influence for all things looking to the material or moral advancement of Cedar Grove.For the benefit of men of moderate means, a Building and Loan Association has been formed in Cedar Grove, and is active in its help to all who desire to take advantage of its liberal and easy terms to home builders. Thus, it is made possible. Or any man who is able to hold a job and ordinary wages to become a homeowner. And this is the fastest growing and most desirable industrial community in the entire southwest.A letter to the secretary of the Commercial Club will elicit all the information desired. Correspondence solicited.Cedar Grove Chamber of Commerce.'
Shreveport Journal on October 26, 1921, page 51
Ultimately, Henry Ford's 15-minute assembly line doomed the Bour-Davis. The retail cost of a 1917 Ford Model T was $365-$635.
Louisiana Motor Car Company filed for bankruptcy in May 1921. Commercial National Bank took over the company by court order, and all of its assets were seized and sold. Commercial National Bank was the company's biggest creditor and helped stockholders settle at a meeting on Feb. 15, 1922.
There is little doubt that the Boer-Davis went down in automotive history. But did you know that in 1913, before the Louisiana Motor Car Company even thought about producing cars in Cedar Grove, another man had a similar idea?
'A proposition for an automobile factory to be located in or near Shreveport is made the occasion for a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce this afternoon,' we read in a clipping from the July 17, 1913 (Shreveport) Times. ' Mr. (R. W.) Twyford proposes to organize a company capitalized at $250,000 to manufacture automobiles in line with his patents which cover a four-wheel driving system and changes in automobile design.'
Twyford said that if successful in Shreveport, the company would be organized and chartered under Louisiana laws.
The Houston Post wrote a long article about the Twyford Auto Manufacturing Company of Houston's factory the previous year. The company specialized in oscillating front axles, rigid worm steerage, and four-wheel drive vehicles.
'The company is preparing to manufacture automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Twyford patents, whose mechanism applies the power to all four wheels equally, thus enabling the machine to go anywhere that any vehicle can go, on rough roads, mud, sand, or on ice,' wrote a Houston Post journalist.
Twyford Auto Manufacturing Company was unable to open a manufacturing facility in Shreveport. But as the years passed, another car manufacturing company moved into the city.
In 1981, Shreveport became home to a General Motors assembly and stamping plant. The plant was producing the Chevrolet Colorado when it closed in 2012.
Sources:
The Houston Post, Apr. 28, 1912, pp. 60
The (Shreveport) Times, July 17, 1913
The (Shreveport) Times, Mar. 3, 1918, pp. 12
The (Shreveport) Times, Apr. 23, 1922
The (Shreveport) Times, Aug. 19, 1903
The Shreveport Journal, May 31, 1901
The (Shreveport) Times, Jan. 3, 1900, pp. 8
The Shreveport Journal, Oct. 12, 1903
The (Shreveport) Times, Oct. 11, 1903
The Caucasian, pp. 1, July 5, 1900
The Shreveport Journal, Aug. 22, 1919
The Shreveport Journal, July 28, 1910
The (Shreveport) Times, Feb. 23, 1920
Louisiana Motor Car Company brochure. Louisiana State Exhibit Museum, Shreveport, Louisiana. https://laexhibitmuseum.org/historic-objects/the-bour-davis/
https://archive.org/details/yourgrocerystore1918sear/page/8/mode/2up
https://www.conceptcarz.com/s15796/ford-model-t.aspx
The Shreveport Journal on October 26, 1921, pp. 51
https://laexhibitmuseum.org/historic-objects/the-bour-davis/
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