Hudson Commodore
The Hudson Commodore is an automobile that was produced by the Hudson Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan between 1941 and 1952. During its time in production, the Commodore was the largest and most luxurious Hudson model.
First generation.
1941.
The Commodore Series 12 and Series 14 were the junior models to the Commodore Custom Series 15 and Series 17. The junior models debuted in Hudson's 1941 model line. Commodore Series 12 featured a I6 engine and the Series 14 models came with a I8, with all built on a wheelbase, while Commodore Customs utilized on the wheelbase for Series 15 coupes and a version for Series 17 sedans.
The Commodore was powered by Hudson's I6 producing , or by Hudson's I8 that produced . Prices listed for the Series 12 coupe started at US$1,028 ($ in 2024 dollars ) to the top level Custom Series 17 Sedan at US$1,537 ($ in 2024 dollars ).
The Commodore series was Hudson's largest model range in its debut year, consisting of sedans, coupes, and convertibles. Hudson used a forward hinged hood that opened from the rear by the windshield with the front end of the hood sliding downward over the grille. Elements of the interior and exterior were styled by Betty Thatcher, "the first woman designer to be employed by a car manufacturer".
1942.
For the 1942 model year, the cars received a facelift. This included concealed running boards, modestly enlarged front grilles, and external trim arrangements. Hudson offered an optional "Drive-Master" vacuum-assisted clutch with a servo-operated transmission with three modes: "automatic" shifting and clutching, automated clutching only, or fully manual.
The firm promoted its economy over luxury during the shortened model year that ended in January 1942, as U.S. war production accelerated.
Second generation.
1946.
Hudson began postwar automobile production on August 30, 1945. Body styles were trimmed to Sedan, Club Coupe, and Convertible. The designs were based on the 1942 models. There were minor cosmetic changes from the pre-war versions with one exception, the car's grille now had a concave center section.
Hudson automobiles were more fully equipped than competitive makes, and all Hudson models received door armrests, twin air-horns, ashtrays, windshield wipers, stop lights, locking glove box, sealed beam headlights, and deep pile carpeting. Commodore and Commodore Customs added foam rubber seat cushions (Hudson was the first automaker to introduce foam seat cushions), door-step courtesy lights, rear center armrest (sedans), and gold etched lettering on the dashboard panel.
1947.
The priority was building cars following the war rather than introducing annual design changes for 1947 since Hudson was in the process of developing a completely new model. Production of the 1947 Hudson Commodore Eight increased to 12,593 from the previous year's 8,193.
Third generation.
1948.
Hudson developed a new and radical car design. Production of the 1948 Hudsons began on 12 October 1947. Introduced on 7 December 1947, the Hudson Commodore was one of the first new-design postwar cars made. The 1948 model year inaugurated Hudson's trademarked "Monobuilt" construction or "step-down" automobile. The new cars were designed by Frank Spring and in part by Betty Thatcher, the first female designer to be employed by a car manufacturer. The marketing tagline for the innovative Hudsons was "Now You're Face to Face with Tomorrow."
The cars had a light and strong semi-unit body with a perimeter frame. Because of the encircling frame, passengers stepped down into the vehicles. Hudson's step-down design made the body lower than contemporary cars. It offered passengers the protection of being surrounded by the car's chassis with a lower center of gravity. In addition to the safety of being surrounded by the car's chassis, the step-down also allowed Hudson to achieve weight savings through the unibody construction, making for a well-performing automobile. The "monobuilt" or "step-down design also required less steel for its production.
The cars featured slab-sided bodies with fully integrated fenders. The Brougham and sedans were of a fastback design, while convertibles and coupes were notchbacks. A character line ran from the front to back further lowering the car even more visually, so "the new Hudson looked like a dream car straight from the auto show."
In 1948, Commodores came in one series and were available in either I6 or optional I8 engines. Interiors were upholstered in broadcloth on sedans, and leather on convertibles. Again, Hudson continued to provide numerous standard features that other manufacturers classified as upcharge options. Not only were the 1948 models "truly significant new designs of the early postwar years. The “Step-Down” Hudson was low and sleek, which many consumers really enjoyed." Total Commodore production was 62,474 of which 35,315 were I8 units.
Sir Vival.
In response to the increasing number of deaths on highways in the United States after World War II, an innovative concept car was designed and built for safety rather than for style or speed. Using two 1948 Hudsons, Walter Jerome, built a hinged two-section car to minimize impact of collisions. Among its many features are a centrally-positioned, raised turret-shaped driver compartment providing panoramic visibility, as well as safety equipment that would later become standard on production vehicles such as rubber bumpers, seat belts, and side marker lights. Jerome had purchased the two donor Hudsons from Bellingham Motors, a Hudson dealership in Massachusetts, and was planning to build up to a dozen Sir Vivals per year, but only the prototype was completed and in early-1970s, it went back to Bellingham Motors for storage.
With the closing of Bellingham Motors, in 2022 it was sold to Lane Motor Museum which plans to restore it.
1949.
For the 1949 model year, the Commodore line was enlarged to include more luxurious Custom models. As a marketing promotion, Hudson had plastic specialists use scaled-down blueprints to develop transparent models of the Commodore Eight sedan to demonstrate and promote the design and construction of the cars.
1950.
The most noticeable change to the 1950 model year was the restyled grille featuring a design that superimposed Hudson's signature triangle logo on four horizontal bars. This would become the "Hudson look." The 1950 models included a new split back window and redesigned interiors. A new Custom Commodore convertible model debuted in mid-April 1950.
1951.
In 1951, Hudson introduced a new I6 engine and offered General Motors' Hydra-Matic as an optional transmission. The grille was redesigned from a rather rectangular shape to an oval shape, a design that would carry through to 1953. The grille would be redesigned again in 1954, the last year for the famous aerodynamic Hudson body style which was used from 1948 until 1954.
1952.
In its final year in 1952, the Commodore was split into the Six Series and Eight Series. The exterior received another trim change, but by the end of 1953, the Step-Down styling was beginning to look outdated. Hudson lacked the resources to keep adding new and exciting changes to keep up with the competition from the other automakers, whose annual redesigns added tailfins and more chrome trim that consumers wanted. Instead of redesigning the aging "set-down" models, company President A. E. Barit pushed ahead with the firm's plan for the Jet compact.
Discontinuation.
Beginning in 1953, Hudson would field only the Hudson Hornet and Hudson Wasp line, as well as introduce the entirely new Hudson Jet compact car line.
Following Hudson's merger with Nash to form American Motors Corporation (AMC) in 1954, Hudson's automobile production was switched to AMC's facility in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Following slow sales of the 1955 model year, AMC turned Hudson styling to Richard Arbib, who created a unique look for the Hudson line based on what he termed "V-Line" styling. The new design did not attract customers to Hudson, and production fell even further.
1957 show car.
In its final year, the Hudson brand was pared down to a single model, the Hudson Hornet, available in two trim levels, the top-level Custom and the Super. However, during the show car season, AMC prepared a one-off 1957 Hudson Commodore show car identical to the production Hornet, featuring gold exterior trim and unique upholstery.
Station wagon.
In 1946, Hudson hired an experienced Army illustrator for instruction manuals and training materials. Don Butler assisted with the final design drawings for the upcoming 1948 Hudsons. However, he also sketched unofficial proposals for Hudson that included a station wagon, a pickup, and a town car. Butler's illustrations were an inspiration to build a Commodore station wagon. A 1948 Hudson Commodore Eight four-door sedan served a donor with another car's roof added for the station wagon's rear section. The woodie was hand-made of ash framing with mahogany veneer panels. The car is a modern realization of an unbuilt postwar design.
Notable owner.
Actor Steve McQueen owned four Hudsons that he drove around Los Angeles. His 1950 Hudson Commodore Six Brougham was the only convertible. McQueen upgraded the standard I6 with a Twin-H version from a Hudson Hornet.
References.
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Hudson Motor Car Company
American auto company
The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other branded automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., from 1909 until 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was discontinued.
Company strategy.
The name "Hudson" came from Joseph L. Hudson, a Detroit department store entrepreneur and founder of Hudson's department store, who provided the necessary capital and gave permission for the company to be named after him. A total of eight Detroit businessmen formed the company on February 20, 1909, to produce an automobile which would sell for less than US$1,000 (equivalent to approximately $ in 2024 funds).
One of the lead "car men" and an organizer of the company was Roy D. Chapin Sr., a young executive who had worked with Ransom E. Olds. (Chapin's son, Roy Jr., would later be president of Hudson-Nash descendant American Motors Corporation in the 1960s). The company quickly started production, with the first car driven out of a small factory in Detroit on July 3, 1909, at Mack Avenue and Beaufait Street on the East Side of Detroit, occupying the old Aerocar factory.
The new Hudson "Twenty" was one of the first low-priced cars on the American market and became successful with 4,508 sold the first year. This was the best first year's production in the history of the automobile industry and put the newly formed company in 17th place industry-wide, "a remarkable achievement at a time" when there were hundreds of makes being marketed.
Successful sales volume required a larger factory. A new facility was built on a parcel at Jefferson Avenue and Conner Avenue in Detroit's Fairview section that was diagonally across from the Chalmers Automobile plant. The land was the former farm of D.J. Campau. It was designed by the firm of renowned industrial architect Albert Kahn with 223,500 square feet and opened on October 29, 1910. Production in 1911 increased to 6,486. For 1914, Hudsons for the American market were now left-hand drive.
Coachbuilder Fisher Body Co. built bodies for Hudson cars (as well as many other automotive marques) until they were bought out by General Motors in 1919. From 1923, Hudson bodies were built exclusively by Massachusetts company Biddle and Smart. The lucrative contract with Hudson would see Biddle and Smart buy up many smaller local coachbuilders to meet the Hudson demand. Peak shipments came in 1926, when the company delivered 41,000 bodies to Hudson. An inability to stamp steel meant that their products were made using aluminum.
On 1 July 1926, Hudson's new US$10 million ($ in 2024 dollars ) body plant was completed where the automaker could now build the all-steel closed bodies for both the Hudson and Essex models. Biddle and Smart continued to build aluminum body versions of the Hudson line and were marketed by Hudson as "custom-built" although they were the same as the steel-body vehicles. With Hudson now building in-house, Biddle and Smart saw their work for Hudson drop by 60%. From 1927 Hudson gradually began to utilize local coachbuilders Briggs Manufacturing Company and Murray Corporation of America to supplement Hudson's production which was expanding domestically and internationally. With car prices falling due to the Great Depression and the costs to transport vehicles from Massachusetts to Detroit becoming too expensive, the contract with Biddle and Smart was terminated in 1930, and Biddle and Smart went out of business shortly thereafter.
At their peak in 1929, Hudson and Essex produced a combined 300,000 cars in one year, including contributions from Hudson's other factories in Belgium and England; a factory had been built in 1925 in Brentford in London. Hudson was the third largest U.S. car maker that year, after Ford Motor Company and Chevrolet.
Hudson had many firsts for the auto industry; these included dual brakes, the use of dashboard oil-pressure and generator warning lights, and the first balanced crankshaft, which allowed the Hudson straight-six engine, dubbed the "Super Six" (1916), to work at a higher rotational speed while remaining smooth, developing more power for its size than lower-speed engines. The Super Six was the first engine built by Hudson, previously Hudson had developed engine designs and then had them manufactured by Continental Motors Company. Most Hudsons until 1957 had straight-6 engines. The dual brake system used a secondary mechanical emergency brake system, which activated the rear brakes when the pedal traveled beyond the normal reach of the primary system; a mechanical parking brake was also used. Hudson transmissions also used an oil bath and cork clutch mechanism that proved to be as durable as it was smooth.
Essex and Terraplane.
In 1919, Hudson introduced the Essex brand line of automobiles; the line was originally for budget-minded buyers, designed to compete with Ford and Chevrolet, as opposed to the more up-scale Hudson line competing with Oldsmobile and Studebaker. Local coachbuilder Briggs Manufacturing introduced their first-of-its-kind closed coach body in 1922 for Hudson's Essex. It was the first closed vehicle available at a price close to its open-bodied brethren. The 1922 Essex closed body was priced at only $300 more than the 1922 Essex touring. Within three years, its popularity enabled Hudson to reduce its price so that both the 1925 Essex touring and coach were priced the same. The Essex found great success by offering one of the first affordable sedans, and combined Hudson and Essex sales moved from seventh in the U.S. to third by 1925.
In 1932, Hudson began phasing out its Essex nameplate for the modern Terraplane brand name. The new line was launched on July 21, 1932, with a promotional christening by Amelia Earhart. For 1932 and 1933, the restyled cars were named Essex-Terraplane; from 1934 as Terraplane, until 1938 when the Terraplane was renamed the Hudson 112. Hudson also began assembling cars in Canada, contracting Canada Top and Body to build the cars in their Tilbury, Ontario, plant. In England, Terraplanes built at the Brentford factory were still being advertised in 1938.
An optional accessory on some 1935–1938 Hudson and Terraplane models was a steering column-mounted electric gear pre-selector and electro-mechanical automatic shifting system, known as the "Electric Hand", manufactured by the Bendix Corporation. This took the place of the floor-mounted shift lever, but required conventional clutch actions. Cars equipped with the feature also carried a conventional shift lever in clips under the dash, which could be pulled out and put to use in case the Electric Hand should ever fail. Hudson was also noted for offering an optional vacuum-powered automatic clutch, starting in the early 1930s.
Hudson Eight.
For the 1930 model year, Hudson debuted a new flathead inline eight cylinder engine with block and crankcase cast as a unit and fitted with two cylinder heads. A 2.75-inch bore and 4.5-inch stroke displaced developing at 3,600 rpm with the standard 5.78:1 compression ratio. The five main bearing crankshaft had eight integral counterweights, an industry first, and also employed a Lanchester vibration damper. Four rubber blocks were used at engine mount points. A valveless oil pump improved the Hudson splash lubrication system.
The new eights were the only engine offering in the Hudson line, supplanting the Super Six, which continued in the Essex models.
At the 1931 Indianapolis 500, Buddy Marr's #27 "Hudson Special" (using a Winfield carburetor) finished the 200 laps in tenth place.
1936–1942.
In 1936, Hudson revamped its cars, introducing a new "radial safety control" / "rhythmic ride" suspension which suspended the live front axle from two steel bars, as well as from leaf springs. Doing this allowed the use of longer, softer leaf springs ("rhythmic ride"), and prevented bumps and braking from moving the car off course. The 1936 Hudsons were also considerably larger inside than competitive cars — Hudson claimed a interior, comparing it to the in the "largest of other popular cars" of the time. With an optional bulging trunk lid, Hudson claimed the trunk could accommodate of luggage. The 1936 engines were powerful for the time, from .
The 1939 models joined other American cars in the use of a column-mounted gearshift lever. This freed front-seat passenger space and remained the industry standard through the 1960s, when "bucket seats" came into vogue. Hudson became the first car manufacturer to use foam rubber in its seats. The Hudson Terraplane was dropped. For the 1940 models, Hudson introduced coil spring independent front suspension, aircraft-style shock absorbers mounted within the front springs, and true center-point steering on all its models, a major advance in performance among cars in this price range. The Super Six model was reintroduced as well. Despite all these changes, Hudson's sales for 1940 were lower than in 1939 and the company lost money again. The advent of military contracts the following year brought relief.
The 1941 Hudsons retained the front-end styling of the 1940 models but the bodies were new with 5.5 inches added to their length giving more legroom. A new manual 3-speed synchromesh transmission was quieter with all helical gears. Wheelbases increased by 3 inches, with offerings of 116, 121, and 128 inches, and height was decreased with flatter roofs. Convertibles now had a power-operated top. Big Boy trucks now used the 128-inch wheelbase. In 1942, as a response to General Motors' Hydramatic automatic transmission, Hudson introduced its "Drive-Master" system. Drive-Master was a more sophisticated combination of the concepts used in the Electric Hand and the automatic clutch. It contained a vacuum-powered module on the transmission to switch between second and third gear and a vacuum-powered module to pull the clutch in and out. At the touch of a button, Drive-Master offered the driver a choice of three modes of operation: ordinary, manual shifting and clutching; manual shifting with automatic clutching; and automatic shifting with automatic clutching. All this was accomplished by a large and complicated mechanism located under the hood. They worked well, and in fully automatic mode served as a good semi-automatic transmission. When coupled with an automatic overdrive, Drive-Master became known as Super-Matic. Re-engineering of the frame rear end to use lower springs reduced car height by . Sheet metal "spats" on the lower body now covered the running boards and new wider front and rear fenders accommodated this.
Female designer.
As the role of women increased in car-purchase decisions, automakers began to hire female designers. Hudson, wanting a female perspective on automotive design, hired Elizabeth Ann Thatcher in 1939, one of America's first female automotive designers. Her contributions to the 1941 Hudson included exterior trim with side lighting, interior instrument panel, interiors and interior trim fabrics. She designed for Hudson from 1939 into 1941, leaving the company when she married Joe Oros, then a designer for Cadillac. He later became head of the design team at Ford that created the Mustang.
World War II.
As ordered by the Federal government, Hudson ceased auto production from 1942 until 1945 to manufacture material during World War II, including aircraft parts and naval engines as well as anti-aircraft guns. The Hudson "Invader" engine powered many of the landing craft used on the D-Day invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944.
During World War II Hudson had also an aircraft division that produced ailerons for one large eastern airplane builder. The plant was capable of large scale production of wings and ailerons as well as other airplane parts. On May 22, 1941, Hudson was given a contract for the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon with the Jefferson Avenue Plant, on Jefferson Avenue and Connor Avenue, responsible for converting the original Swiss drawings to American production standards. The company produced 33,201 Oerlikons for the United States Navy with the original mechanism continued in use without major change and with complete interchangeability of parts until the end of the war. Hudson also manufactured millions of other weaponry and vehicle parts for the war effort. Hudson ranked 83rd among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.
Fisher takeover attempt.
The Fisher Body Company, later the Fisher Body Division of GM, manufactured bodies for many automobile marques throughout the early 20th Century. From 1926 the business had become part of General Motors. Just before World War II, the Fisher brothers contemplated a takeover of Hudson and commissioned engineer Roscoe C. (Rod) Hoffman, from Detroit, to design and build several rear-engine prototype vehicles for possible eventual production as Hudsons. One prototype was built in secret in 1935.
World War II forced the brothers to shelve their plans while the company shifted its focus to the war effort. When brothers Fred and Charles retired from GM in 1944 they revived the Hudson takeover idea with the view of establishing new, independent automobile manufacturing operations. The brothers contacted Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Hudson's main stockholder, offering to buy. Using an intermediary, Queen Wilhelmina expressed her interest in selling, prompting the Fisher brothers to begin devoting time to Hudson and their plant in anticipation of a deal. When news of these events reached Wall Street, the price of Hudson stock skyrocketed with the consensus by investors that a Fisher takeover would be the best thing for Hudson. However, the Fisher brothers tender offer fell short of Hudson's sudden increased market value and the deal did not go through.
1946–1954.
Production resumed after the war and included a wheelbase three-quarter-ton pickup truck.
In 1948, the company launched its "step-down" bodies, which lasted through the 1954 model year. The term step-down referred to Hudson's placement of the passenger compartment down inside the perimeter of the frame; riders stepped down onto a floor that was surrounded by the perimeter of the car's frame. The result was not only a safer car, and greater passenger comfort as well, but, through a lower center of gravity, a good handling car. In time almost all U.S. automakers would embrace it as a means of building bodies. Automotive author Richard Langworth described the step-down models as the greatest autos of the era in articles for "Consumer Guide" and "Collectible Automobile".
For the 1951 model year, the 6-cylinder engine received a new block with thicker walls and other improvements to boost horsepower by almost 18% and torque by 28.5% making Hudson a hot performer again. The GM-supplied 4-speed Hydramatic automatic transmission was now optional in Hornets and Commodore Custom 6s and 8s.
Hudson's strong, light-weight bodies, combined with its high-torque inline six-cylinder engine technology, made the company's 1951–54 Hornet an auto racing champion, dominating NASCAR in 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1954.
Herb Thomas won the 1951 and 1954 Southern 500s and Dick Rathmann won in 1952. Some NASCAR records set by Hudson in the 1950s ("e.g." consecutive wins in one racing season) still stand even today. Hudson cars also did very well in races sanctioned by the AAA Contest Board from 1952 until 1954 with Marshall Teague winning the 1952 AAA Stock Car Championship and Frank Mundy in 1953. Often Hudsons finished in most of the top positions in races. Later, these cars met with some success in drag racing, where their high power-to-weight ratio worked to their advantage. Hudsons enjoyed success both in NHRA trials and local dirt track events.
As the post-war marketplace shifted from a seller's to a buyer's market the smaller U.S. automakers, such as Hudson and Nash, found it increasingly difficult to compete with the Big Three (Ford, GM and Chrysler) during the 1950s. A sales war between Ford and General Motors conducted during 1953 and 1954 had left little business for the much smaller "independent" automakers trying to compete against the standard models offered by the domestic Big Three. The Big Three could afford constant development and styling changes, so that their cars looked fresh every year, whereas the smaller manufacturers could only afford gradual changes. Hudson's once-innovative "step-down" unit-body construction, while sturdy and innovative, also made restyling difficult and expensive. Although Hudsons dominated racing during this period, their feats did little to affect showroom traffic despite incorporating their NASCAR success into a marketing campaign known as "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday". Sales fell each year from 1951 until 1954, and only Korean War military contracts kept the company solvent. On March 20, 1954, the Hudson Motor Car Company reported a loss of $10,411,060 in 1953 as compared with a profit of $8,307,847 in 1952.
After the company's high-priced Jet compact car line failed to capture buyers in its second straight year, Hudson CEO A.E. Barit engaged with George W. Mason, CEO of Nash-Kelvinator (makers of Nash and Rambler) to discuss the possibility of a merger with Nash. Mason already had the vision of merging the four independent automakers (Nash, Hudson, Packard, and Studebaker) into one company to compete with the Big Three, having floated the idea as early as 1946 with Packard to no avail. Mason had previously discussed the idea with Barit in 1952. On 14 January 1954 an agreement was reached and Nash and Hudson executives took the first steps to bring the two companies together.
1954 – Merger with Nash-Kelvinator.
On May 1, 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to become American Motors Corporation. George W. Mason became CEO and president of AMC while Hudson's president, A.E. Barit retired to become an AMC board member.
The Hudson factory, located in Detroit, Michigan, was converted to military contract production at the end of the model year, and the remaining three years of Hudson production took place at the Nash plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin building rebadged Nash cars with the Hudson brand name. Nash would focus most of its marketing resources on its smaller Rambler models, and Hudson would focus its marketing efforts on its full-sized cars. The first Hudson model to terminate production was the Jet. The new company could then focus on the more successful Nash Rambler. Henceforth, Hudson dealers would have badge-engineered versions of the Nash Rambler and Metropolitan compacts to sell as Hudson products.
One of the first things Mason did as CEO of the new company was to initiate talks with James J. Nance, president of Packard, for parts-sharing arrangements between AMC and Packard. At this time AMC did not have its own V8 engine and an agreement was made for the new Packard V8 engine and Packard's Ultramatic automatic transmission to be used in the 1955 Nash Ambassador and Hudson Hornet models.
In July 1954, Packard acquired Studebaker to form Studebaker-Packard Corporation. However further talks of a merger between AMC and Studebaker-Packard were cut short when Mason died on October 8, 1954. A week after his death, Mason's successor, George W. Romney, announced "There are no mergers under way either directly or indirectly". Nevertheless, Romney continued with Mason's commitment to buy components from Studebaker-Packard Corporation. Although Mason and Nance had previously agreed that Studebaker-Packard would purchase parts from AMC, it did not do so. Moreover, Packard's engines and transmissions were comparatively expensive, so AMC began development of its own V8 engine, and replaced the outsourced unit by mid-1956.
1955–1957.
For 1955, both Hudson and Nash senior models were built on a common automobile platform using styling themes by Pinin Farina, Edmund E. Anderson, and Frank Spring. Common-body shell production for competing makes of automobiles was a manufacturing technique that had been used by the Big Three for decades.
Anderson set up separate design studios for Nash, Hudson, and Rambler.
Although the 1955 Hudson used the inner body shell of the Nash, the car incorporated a front cowl originally designed by Spring and the Hudson team to be put on the 1954 Step-Down platform. The 1955 models also used the Hudson dashboard, "triple safe brakes" and the Nash Weather Eye heater with Harrison Radiator Corporation-supplied lower cost Freon/compressor type air conditioning.
For the first time, Hudson offered a V8 engine starting for the 1955 model year. It was the Packard-designed and -built engine rated at . All cars with the Packard V8 also came with Packard's Ultramatic automatic transmission as an option for $494 with the Nash 3-speed manual was also available at $295.
Hudson dealers also sold Rambler and Metropolitan models under the Hudson brand. A total of 4,357 Metropolitans were sold as "Hudson." When sold by Hudson dealers, both cars were identified as Hudson vehicles via hood/grille emblems and horn buttons. Hudson Ramblers also received "H" symbols on fuel filler caps (and, in 1956, also on hubcaps).
In 1956, ex-Hudson president A.E Barit resigned from the Board in protest over the likelihood that Hudson would be phased out of production.
For 1956, the design of the senior Hudsons was given over to designer Richard Arbib, which resulted in the "V-Line" styling motif, a combination of "V" motifs that carried Hudson's triangular corporate logo theme. Sales fell below the 1955 figures.
With a wider front track than Nash used, Hudson was the better handling car and was powered by the famed Hornet Six with the optional high-compression cylinder head and dual-carburetor manifold ("Twin-H Power"); the Twin H would disappear at the end of the 1956 model year.
The Wasp used the L-head Jet Six engine (up to ) and this model (in sedan version) was Hudson's top seller. For 1957, Hudson dropped the shorter-wheelbase Wasp line, selling only the Hornet Custom and Super, which featured a lowered profile and slightly updated styling.
George W. Romney felt that Hudson and Nash were no longer relevant players in the automotive market and retired both names at the end of the 1957 model year production. Both Rambler and Metropolitan became makes in their own right, and no longer were identified as Hudson or Nash.
End of the line.
The last Hudson rolled off the Kenosha assembly line on June 25, 1957, although at that time there were proposals of continuing the Hudson and Nash names into the 1958 model year on the Rambler chassis as deluxe, longer-wheelbase senior models. The combined Nash and Hudson production volume was insufficient to justify all-new design and tooling; therefore, the Rambler's platform was expected to be adopted by the longer cars. One major trade magazine said rumors of discontinuance were false and the 1958 Hudsons and Nashes "would be big and smart". Factory styling photographs show designs for a 1958 Hudson (and Nash) line based on a longer-wheelbase 1958 Rambler. Front-end prototype photos show separate Hudson and Nash styling themes.
American Motors' president, George W. Romney, concluded that the only way to compete with the "Big Three" was to stake the future of AMC on a new smaller-sized car line. Neither Hudson nor Nash brand names had as much positive market recognition as the successful Rambler and their sales were lagging. Together with AMC's chief engineer Meade Moore, Romney had completely phased out the Nash and Hudson brands at the end of 1957. The decision to retire the brands came so quickly that preproduction photographs of the eventual 1958 Rambler Ambassador show both Nash- and Hudson-badged versions. The Rambler brand was selected for further development and promotion while focusing exclusively on compact cars.
Eventually, however, something close to the Hudson design was chosen for the 1958 Rambler Ambassador. Hudson brand enthusiasts will note the triangular grille guard and 1957-like fender "gun sights" and the fast-selling 1958 Rambler Customs wore 1957 Hudson-styled front-fender trim.
International markets.
Hudson, Essex, and Terraplane vehicles were either exported as complete cars or locally built from knock-down kits in many countries making the Hudson marque well-known internationally as well as domestically. In its 1929 report, the banking house Garden Detroit Company reported that in 1928 Hudson shipped 50,587 vehicles overseas, or 17.9% of total production. By March 1929 Hudson had topped all previous production figures having exported 44,295 cars in March alone, bringing the total of shipments for the first quarter of 1929 to an all-time high of 108,298.
Australia.
Hudson vehicles were imported into Australia in 1913 by Brisbane company McGhie Motor Company.
In 1915 the Sydney branch of Dalgety & Co. Ltd became the distributor of Hudson (and later Essex) vehicles for New South Wales. The company was also the agent for Wolseley, Daimler, and Buick passenger vehicles as well as Lacre and Halley commercial vehicles. Motor bodies were produced by Messrs Henderson, Boulton, and Kirkham in Regent Street, Sydney. The company also did trimming, fitting, painting, mechanical work, and repairs.
Established in 1922, Sydney company Smith & Waddington set up motor vehicle body building operations for NSW and Queensland at premises on Parramatta Road, Camperdown. The company built "custom" car bodies which, by the terminology of the day, meant "built to an individual order and to a special design." In addition to assembling Hudson and Essex for Dalgety, the company also built vehicle bodies for Rolls-Royce, Wolseley, Dort, Benz, Fiat, and Turkat Méry. After a slump in the economy which caused operations to cease in November 1927, Smith & Waddington resumed production in June 1928, again building Hudson and Essex vehicles for NSW and Queensland, and further adding Dodge, Chrysler, Erskine, and Studebaker for the whole of Australia. Additionally, Sydney coach builder G.H Olding & Sons are known to have built 6 Terraplane phaetons for Dalgety in 1934.
In 1926 a new company, Leader Motors Limited was formed to be the exclusive distributor of Hudson and Essex motor vehicles in Queensland. The bodies were made by South Australian company Holden's Motor Body Builders in Brisbane. In its main facility of Adelaide, Holden also made motor bodies for Austin, Buick, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Cleveland, Dodge, Fiat, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Overland, Pontiac, Reo, Studebaker, Vauxhall, and Willys Knight. In 1927 Holden's produced 1252 Essex Standard Tourers, 173 Essex Special Tourers, 171 Essex Coaches, and 46 Essex S/S Roadsters. In the same year the company manufactured 8 Hudson Tourers. 1928 was the last year of Hudson and Essex production by Holden's. In 1930 Holden's was bought out by General Motors.
Hudson and Essex assembly began in Victoria by Neal's Motors of Port Melbourne in 1927. The contract to build the bodies was initially given to TJ Richards & Sons of Keswick, Adelaide to supply for Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania as well as acting as a second source of supply for New South Wales and Queensland. Holden's Motor Body Builders also built bodies. Holden's records show that for 1927 the Adelaide plant built 1,641 Essex vehicles and 8 Hudsons, and for 1928 a total of 1,931 Essex vehicles and 59 Hudsons were assembled. Holden's final year for Hudson and Essex production was in 1928, and in 1931 the company was bought out by General Motors.
In February 1934 Ruskins Body Works of West Melbourne secured the contract to build Hudson and Terraplane bodies for the whole of Australia. In June 1937, Neal's Motors celebrated assembling its 30,000th automobile: a 1937 Hudson Terraplane.
In 1939 Dalgety sold their automotive business to agent for Packard motor vehicles, Ira L. & A.C Berk in Sydney, which thereafter became the distributors for Hudson in NSW and QLD. The company opened a manufacturing plant in Belmore, Sydney in February 1949.
After the end of World War II, Australia legislated to restrict the use of U.S. dollars which were in desperately short supply. The use of U.S. dollars to import cars thereafter required a government permit restricting the purchase of American cars only to those with access to U.S. funds held overseas such as consular staff and visiting entertainers. Despite this, Australian distributors of Hudson, Nash, Packard, and Studebaker were able to bring in limited numbers of US-built, factory right-hand-drive vehicles from 1946.
A report by Dunlop Australia about Australian car sales from 1932 until 1949 noted that Hudson vehicles (including Essex and Terraplane) totaled 10,424 units during the 17-years, coming in at 13th place overall. It was noted in the report generally that all marques in Australia experienced the greatest number of sales before World War II.
In 1960, six years after the merger of Hudson and Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation, Australian Motor Industries (AMI) of Port Melbourne would form an agreement with AMC to assemble Ramblers in Australia.
Canada.
Canadian assembly of Hudson vehicles commenced in 1932 by Hudson Motors of Canada in Tilbury, Ontario. The factory building was owned by Canadian Top & Body Co. which built the motor bodies for the vehicles. The first models assembled were a series of Hudson Eights. World War II interrupted operations and production ceased in 1941. Post-war operations resumed in 1950, with Hudsons being assembled by Chatco Steel Products in Tilbury, Ontario. Operations ceased in 1954 following the Nash-Hudson merger that led to the formation of American Motors Corporation. Toronto-based Nash Motors of Canada Ltd. became American Motors (Canada) Ltd. and all subsequent AMC operations continued in Toronto until its closure in 1957. Local production of Ramblers resumed after AMC's Brampton, Ontario plant opened in December 1960.
Germany.
Hudson and Essex vehicles were assembled in Berlin, Germany, during the 1920s by Hudson Essex Motors Company m.b.H Berlin-Spandau. The cars were built with the speedometer in kilometers, while the fuel, oil, and temperature gauges remained in their original non-metric units.
New Zealand.
Hudson and Essex vehicles were imported into North Island by Dominion Motors of Wellington which began operations in 1912. Dominion Motors amalgamated with Universal Motor Company of Christchurch in 1919 forming an assembly operation for Hudson and Essex as well as Oldsmobile, Crossley, Chevrolet, Stutz, Rolls-Royce, and (pre-GM) Vauxhall. Vehicles were assembled and finished in-house from partial knock-down kits.
For South Island, Hudson and Essex vehicles were imported by W.G. Vining Limited of Nelson, beginning in 1912. Vining had built a garage in 1908 which was the largest garage in New Zealand at the time. A car assembly plant was established at the premises and shortly thereafter Vinings obtained licenses to import and assemble Cadillac, Maxwell, Haynes, and Ford vehicles from the United States; Bean cars from the United Kingdom; and Darracq and Unic vehicles from France. Along with Hudson and Essex, the plant later assembled Chevrolet and Rover vehicles. The business ceased when it was sold on 30 September 1927 upon W.G. Vining's retirement. Vining's son formed a new business, P. Vining & Scott, and continued the Hudson and Essex franchise, adding Morris in 1932.
New Zealand car sales for the first nine months of 1927 saw Essex in third place with 898 vehicles sold, behind Chevrolet in second place with 1,100 vehicles sold, and Ford in first place with 1651 vehicles sold. Hudson made 12th place with 206 sales.
From 1935, Hudson vehicles (along with Nash, Studebaker, and Standard) were assembled by Christchurch company Motor Assemblies Limited. Production ended when the company was acquired by Standard-Triumph International in 1954. Hudson production then went to Motor Holdings Ltd which had been founded in 1936 as the Zealand franchise of Jowett Motors. After Jowett's closure in the United Kingdom in 1954, Motor Holdings won the Volkswagen franchise, and its Auckland operation was renamed VW Motors for the production of VWs in New Zealand. VW Motors assembled Hudsons as a secondary line. Some were fully imported as special orders.
After the Hudson and Nash marques were discontinued by American Motors Corporation, VW Motors assembled AMC's new Rambler motor vehicles at its new Otahuhu Volkswagen plant from 1958 until 1962. AMC formed an agreement in 1963 with Campbell Motor Industries (CMI) of Thames to assemble Ramblers, production of which ran from 1964 until 1971.
South Africa.
Beginning in the 1920s, Hudson and Willys motor vehicles were assembled in South Africa from right-hand-drive complete knock-down (CKD) kits sourced from Canada by Stanley Motors at their plant, National Motor Assemblers (NMA), in Natalspruit (Gauteng). After World War II, NMA built Austin, Standard, and Triumph vehicles at different times.
After the formation of American Motors Corporation in 1954, NMA continued to assemble AMC Ramblers until 1967.
United Kingdom.
Hudsons were introduced to the United Kingdom in 1911. No shipments were possible during the First World War but as soon as the Armistice was signed exports resumed to the U.K. Hudsons and Essex vehicles were sold through ten concessionaires.
In 1922 Hudson-Essex Motors of Great Britain Limited was formed, with new premises on Dordrecht Road, in Acton Vale. Over 100 agents were appointed to sell the vehicles resulting in 2,000 sales in the next 12 months.
In 1926 a factory was built on a property next to the recently opened Great West Road in Brentford. The plant opened in 1927 and a year later a three-story building was built as a service department for Hudson and Essex vehicles. The factory assembled the vehicle chassis locally, but the bodies were imported as complete units from Detroit.
From 1932, the bodies came over from the United States in sections to be assembled at the Great West Road factory. After the Essex marque was retired in 1932 the British company was renamed Hudson Motors Ltd.
Hudson's new Terraplane model was equally as popular in the U.K. as it was in the United States. English-designed and built bodies were built on the Terraplane frames and the cars were entered in many automobile races including the Monte Carlo Rally. Some of the cars entered were driven by personnel from the Great West Road factory. A Hudson Pacemaker won first place in the 1931 Scottish Rally and another Pacemaker took 7th place in the 1932 Torquay Rally. The Team Award was won by two Terraplane tourers and a Terraplane saloon in the 1933 Scottish Rally.
A triangular site from the railway was developed in 1926 for a new Hudson-Essex factory. This was the first major industrial facility and became a major employer along the Great West Road. Other firms followed to establish what became known as the "Golden Mile." The Chiswick Roundabout (the junction of Chiswick High Road, North Circular Road, South Circular Road, and the A4 Great West Road) also became known as "Hudson's Corner." After World War II, the property was used by the Kelvinator Refrigerator Company.
After the Hudson and Nash merger, the British company became a subsidiary of American Motors Corporation and was renamed Rambler Motors (A.M.C.) Limited in 1961, taking over from Nash Concessionaires Ltd. as the importer of AMC's new Rambler vehicles. The company imported AMC vehicles, many in factory right-hand-drive, well into the 1970s.
Legacy.
In 1928, a one yuan coin called the Auto Dollar was minted by the Chinese warlord Zhou Xicheng to commemorate the construction of roadways in Guizhou province. The coin features an image of an automobile reminiscent of a soft-topped Hudson car, although it does not correspond to any particular model exactly.
For the 1970 model year, American Motors revived the "Hornet" model name for its new series of compact cars (the AMC Hornet). AMC was later purchased by Chrysler, which at one time considered reintroducing the Hornet name in the Dodge model line and ultimately did so for the 2023 model year with a car based on the Alfa Romeo Tonale.
The last Hudson dealership was Miller Motors in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which is now part of the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum.
The Hostetler Hudson Auto Museum in Shipshewana, Indiana, featured a collection of restored Hudsons. Eldon Hostetler was an inventor who owned a Hudson as a teenager and later purchased Hudson cars and restored them. The museum closed in 2018 after the Hudson Automobile Museum Board voted in favor of closing the museum and liquidating the collection.
A restored Hudson Dealership sign still occupies its original site on Highway 32 in Chico, California.
References.
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Poplarville, Mississippi
Poplarville is a city in Pearl River County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,894. It is the county seat of Pearl River County. It hosts an annual Blueberry Jubilee, which includes rides, craft vendors and rodeos.
History.
Poplarville was named for Poplar Jim Smith, the original owner of the town site.
Four lynchings have been committed in Poplarville since the Civil War. The most recent occurred in 1959 when Mack Charles Parker, an African-American accused of rape, was abducted from the Pearl River County jail in Poplarville by a mob and shot to death. No charges were filed against anyone.
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina inflicted damage on Poplarville, with storm's most powerful, unofficially recorded gust of wind reported at Pearl River Community College, at . On September 2, 2005, Ohio Army National Guard arrived in Poplarville to assist with recovery. Initial efforts were the security of banks, pharmacies and gas stations as well as initial responses to rural emergencies. The unit stayed for three weeks ultimately checking on every family and structure in the county. On September 5, 2005, George W. Bush, Laura Bush, and Governor Haley Barbour visited Pearl River Community College in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
On March 25, 2014 citizens voted to allow for beer and wine sales. The final vote count was 361 votes for the measure and 149 against.
Geography.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it (0.52%) is water.
Demographics.
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2020 census.
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,833 people, 733 households, and 499 families residing in the city.
2000 census.
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,601 people, 852 households, and 558 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 936 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 74.32% White, 23.95% African American, 0.50% Asian, 0.15% Native American, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 0.15% from other races, and 0.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.65% of the population.
There were 852 households, out of which 32.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.6% were married couples living together, 19.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.4% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.99.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.6% under the age of 18, 20.8% from 18 to 24, 22.3% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,417, and the median income for a family was $32,339. Males had a median income of $35,250 versus $21,667 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,833. About 20.8% of families and 25.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 38.8% of those under age 18 and 17.5% of those age 65 or over.
Education.
The City of Poplarville is served by the Poplarville School District and is home to Pearl River Community College.

Larkin I. Smith
American politician
Larkin Irvin Smith (June 26, 1944 – August 13, 1989) was an American Congressman from Mississippi serving for seven months until he was killed in a plane crash in Perry County, Mississippi in 1989.
Smith was born in Poplarville, Mississippi to Nona Orene Bounds and her husband Hezekiah K. Smith Sr. Smith was named after his maternal grandfather Larkin Bounds and his maternal uncle Irvin E. Bounds. He received his bachelor's degree from William Carey University and then served at various positions in the police forces in both Pearl River and then Harrison counties. He became the police chief in Gulfport and thereafter the Harrison County sheriff.
In 1988, Smith ran for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Mississippi's 5th congressional district in the southern portion of the state after eight-term incumbent Trent Lott gave up the seat to make a successful run for the Senate.
He defeated Democratic State Senator Gene Taylor and took office on January 3, 1989. However, Smith died on the night of August 13 in a plane crash in rural Perry County near Gulfport after returning from opening the Little League baseball "Dixie Youth World Series" in Hattiesburg. The bodies of Smith and pilot Chuck Vierling were not recovered until the next morning after a search in which rescuers had to bulldoze their way through the forest. Smith's death came only six days after fellow Representative Mickey Leland of Texas died in a plane crash in Ethiopia on August 7, 1989.
Taylor would succeed Smith in a special election held some two months after the crash, beating Republican candidate Tom Anderson. Taylor was reelected every two years until 2010, when he was defeated by Republican State Representative Steven Palazzo.
References.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections

Quincy, Florida
Quincy is a city in and the county seat of Gadsden County, Florida, United States. Quincy is part of the Tallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,970 as of the 2020 census, almost even from 7,972 at the 2010 census.
History.
Early Florida Statehood and Antebellum Years.
Established in 1828, Quincy is the county seat of Gadsden County, and was named for John Quincy Adams. It is located northwest of Tallahassee, the state capital. Quincy's economy was based on agriculture, including farming tomatoes, tobacco, mushrooms, soybeans and other crops.
According to "The Floridian" newspaper, in 1840 there were two schools in Quincy, the Quincy Male Academy and the Quincy Female Academy. Joshua Knowles published the "Quincy Sentinel" in Quincy from November 1839 until it relocated to Tallahassee and became the "Florida Sentinel" in 1841. The paper began publishing in Tallahassee in February or March 1841 as a successor to Quincy Sentinel.
American Civil War.
One of the most important anti-secession organizations in Florida leading up to the Civil War was the Constitutional Union Party. The party, while acknowledging the "wrongs" inflicted upon the south by the north, advocated for "pacific, rational, and judicial methods for righting these wrongs." The party held its state convention in Quincy on June 27, 1860.
William Tennent Stockton, once mayor of Quincy, raised a cavalry company following secession called the Gadsden Dragoons. He was subsequently appointed as captain of the 1st Florida Cavalry Regiment.
Florida was a major contributor of beef, salt, and other supplies to the Confederacy. To facilitate the supply chain, the state was divided into five commissary districts under the overall command of Major Pleasant W. White of Quincy.
Tobacco.
In 1828, Governor William P. Duval introduced Cuban tobacco to the territory of Florida. As a result, the culture of shade-grown cigar wrapper tobacco was a dominant factor in the social and economic development of Gadsden County. Tobacco is a native plant of the western hemisphere. Early European explorers discovered Native Americans growing the plant when they set foot on their soil.
In 1829, John Smith migrated to Gadsden County in covered wagons with his family and four related families. Since there was already a resident named John Smith in the community, he became known as John "Virginia" Smith. When Smith ventured southward he brought with him a type of tobacco seed which was used for chewing and pipe smoking. He planted that seed and found that the plants grew vigorously. Because there was no market for tobacco in small quantities, it was twisted together, cured and shared with his friends. He purchased some Cuban tobacco seed and planted them with his Virginia tobacco. Several years passed and the two tobaccos blended.
When the Virginia tobacco was grown in Florida soil, it was much thinner and lighter in color. Smith began saving the seed from the hybridized stalks. From these seeds, a new plant known as "Florida Wrapper" was developed. So began a tobacco industry at a time when the South was suffering from the low price of cotton.
Growing tobacco continued to be profitable until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, even when the European markets were no longer available. Of course, during the war and the Reconstruction Era, very little tobacco was grown except for personal use. Those days were tremendously difficult, and recovery was a slow process. The post-war search for a money crop led to the resurgence of the tobacco culture. Through these experiments it was discovered that tobacco which was light in color and silky in texture demanded the highest prices. With more experimentation, shading the plants began. At first, wood slats were used, but these proved too heavy. Then they tried slats draped with cheesecloth to keep the plants from the light. Next came ribbed cheesecloth. Ultimately in 1950, the white cheesecloth was replaced with a treated, longer lasting, yellow cloth that provided perfect shade.
Colonel Henry DuVal, president of the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad, shipped samples of Gadsden County tobacco to New York for leaf dealers and cigar manufacturers to inspect. Soon representatives of several companies came down from New York to purchase land for growing tobacco. There was such an influx of land purchases that a number of packing houses arose. This continued until 1970 when tobacco companies came under fire and demand diminished. Around 1970, growing tobacco declined substantially in Gadsden. The development of a homogenized cigar wrapper, the ever-increasing cost of production, the subsidizing of the tobacco culture in Central America by the U.S. government, and the increasing, negative legal climate against the tobacco industry have added to the demise of Gadsden's future in tobacco. The last crop of shade-grown cigar wrapper tobacco was grown in 1977.
Quincy then turned to its other crops, tomato, mushroom and egg farms. This continued until the close of Quincy's mushroom factory and massive layoff of workers at Quincy's tomato farm in 2008. Quincy now turns to its businesses and is attempting to build itself into a business-based district.
Race relations.
Quincy was home to Dunbar High School. It also had a Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia Lodge that was attacked, burned, and members murdered by the Ku Klux Klan reportedly because members were required to pay poll taxes and register to vote.
Lynchings.
In 1929, Will Larkins was accused of an attack on a white 13 year old Quincy school girl, for which he was quickly indicted. As Larkins was being transferred he was taken by a mob of 40 masked men from Sheriff Gregory of Gadsden county, near Madison and Live Oak. When he was kidnapped by the mob he was being taken to the Duval county jail in a series of moves that newspapers claimed were for his safe keeping. After his capture by the mob Larkins was carried back to Quincy, near the railroad grade crossing, shot to death and hanged with wire, his body was then dragged through the street tied to an automobile and burned at the area where the mob thought the accused committed his crime. Though Governor Carlton promised an inquiry and investigators were put on the case in late 1929, no mention of Will Larkins, except for the NAACP lynching lists of 1929, is made again in newspapers of the time. Larkins was the third man lynched in Florida that year.
In 1941, A. C. Williams was accused of robbery and the attempted rape of a 12-year-old white girl. The account of the details makes the accusation very improbable, but Williams did not live long enough to be tried for the crime. He was kidnapped from jail by a group of white men, and although they both shot him and hanged him, Williams survived. After learning he was alive, the sheriff formed a search party. His family was aware the sheriff had been involved in the lynching, and hid him. Williams needed medical attention and since the hospitals in the Quincy area would not treat a black person, he needed to be transported to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. The following day a group of masked men kidnapped him from the ambulance and killed him. His body was dumped on his mother's porch.
Resistance to Jim Crow.
In the 1920s, blacks in Quincy including A. I. Dixie repeatedly tried to form political organizations and vote, and protest brutal labor conditions, but were suppressed by violence from whites. Dixie was flogged repeatedly for his efforts. Later, in 1964, Dixie hosted Congress of Racial Equality student activists, while his daughter Linda organized a sit-in, and Jewell Dixie became the first African American to run for Gadsden County Sheriff.
All American City.
In 1996, Quincy was recognized as an All American City.
Geography.
Quincy is located in central Gadsden County at (30.59, –84.58), in the rolling hills of North Florida.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which , or 0.18%, is water.
Demographics.
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2010 and 2020 census.
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 7,970 people, 2,642 households, and 1,728 families residing in the city.
By age, the population was split as such in 2020: 6.7% were under 5 years old, 27.8% were under 18 years old, and 13.8% were 65 years and older. 49.5% of the population were female. There were 370 veterans living in Quincy and 11.2% of the population were foreign born persons.
In 2020, the median value of owner-occupied housing units was $78,600. The median gross rent was $681. 76.3% of the households had a computer and 54.7% had a broadband internet subscription. 72.1% of the population 25 years and older were highschool graduates and 16.9% of that same population had a bachelor's degree or higher. The median household income was $31,756. The per capita income in a 12-month period was $17,117. 43.6% of the population lived below the poverty threshold.
As of the 2010 United States census, there were 7,972 people, 3,244 households, and 1,843 families residing in the city.
Arts and culture.
Museums and other points of interest.
Several locations in Quincy have been included in the National Register of Historic Places, most within the boundary of the Quincy Historic District. They are:
The Gadsden Arts Center, an AAM accredited art museum housed in the renovated 1912 Bell & Bates hardware store, with rotating regional & national art exhibitions and a permanent collection of Vernacular Art, is also situated in the Quincy Historic District.
Also notable is the Leaf Theater, which is considered a "historic cinema treasure." It is also said to be haunted.
The North Florida Research and Education center is on Pat Thomas Parkway in Quincy.
The Florida A&M Research and Extension Center is located on Old Bainbridge Road in the St. John community of Quincy.
Media.
Quincy has two local papers that cover all of Gadsden County, "The Gadsden County Times" of Gadsden County and "The Herald" of the city of Havana, Florida.
Education.
The Gadsden County School District operates area public schools.
In 2003, James A. Shanks High School in Quincy and Havana Northside High School consolidated into East Gadsden High School. In 2017, East Gadsden High became the only zoned high school in the county due to the consolidation of the high school section of West Gadsden High School into East Gadsden.
Robert F. Munroe Day School, a K–12 private school which was founded as a segregation academy, has its kindergarten campus, the Robert F. Munroe Day Kindergarten, in Quincy proper. The main campus for grade 1–12 in nearby Mount Pleasant.
The Gadsden County Public Library system operates the William A. "Bill" McGill Public Library.
Transportation.
Highways.
U.S. Route 90 (Jefferson Street) is the main highway through the city; US 90 leads southeast to Tallahassee and northwest to Chattahoochee. The city limits extend south to beyond Interstate 10, which passes south of the center of the city. I-10 leads east to Tallahassee and west to Pensacola.
Other highways in Quincy include SR 12, which leads to Havana and southwest to Bristol; SR 267, which leads north to the Georgia line and south 8 miles to Wetumpka; and SR 268, which leads southeast to Midway.
Transit.
Shuttle-bus and van transportation between Quincy and Chattahoochee, Havana, and Tallahassee is provided by Big Bend Transit, which operates three routes serving the area.
Railroad.
Freight service is provided by the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, which acquired most of the former CSX main line from Pensacola to Jacksonville on June 1, 2019.
Airport.
Quincy Municipal Airport is a public-use airport located northeast of the central business district.
Coca-Cola.
Quincy investors were largely responsible for the development of its local Coca-Cola company into a worldwide conglomerate. Quincy was once rumored to be home to many millionaires due to the Coca-Cola boom. Mark Welch “Mr Pat” Munroe, a local banker, father of 18 children by two wives, and W.C. Bradley were among the stockholders of three of the banks that released 500,000 shares of new Coca-Cola common stock. They urged widows and farmers to invest for $40 each, and several did. Eventually that stock split, and made as many as 67 accounted-for investors and Gadsden County residents rich. A single share of Coca-Cola stock bought in 1919 for $40 would be worth $6.4 million today, if all dividends had been reinvested.
References.
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Larkin Smith (Virginia politician)
American politician
Larkin Smith (10 Jul 1745 — 28 Sep 1813) was a Virginia officer, planter and politician who represented King and Queen County in the Virginia House of Delegates, and served as that body's Speaker from 1799 until 1802.
Early and family life.
Born at Richahock plantation in King and Queen County to Mary Chew and her planter husband, John Smith. A member of the First Families of Virginia, he could trace his ancestors in the colony several generations back to immigrants from England.
Military service.
Smith enlisted in November 1775 as a private in a company of minutemen. He was promoted to cadet in the 6th Virginia Regiment on February 10, 1776, then cornet of the 4th Regiment Continental Light Dragoons on August 1, 1777. His first officer's commission was issued on September 4, 1778, when he became a lieutenant. He was promoted to captain on April 1, 1780, and received land in southern Virginia as partial compensation for his patriotic service. Following the conflict, Smith became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati and continued in the Virginia militia, retiring as Colonel of the Regiment of Dragoons in 1807.
Career.
Following the war, on September 30, 1784, Smith became one of the Justices of the Peace which collectively ruled his native King and Queen County.
King and Queen County voters elected Smith as their (part-time) representative in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1784-1785 and both re-elected him and failed to re-elect him many times. In the period June 7, 1794 until 1797 he was ineligible for legislative service because fellow legislators elected him as a member of the Governor's Privy Council which governed the Commonwealth's small executive branch. During their joint Privy Council service, he and Edmund Harrison (who would succeed him as speaker) on October 7, 1794, issued a report to the Governor on the condition of the State Treasury. Smith again won election to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1797, and was re-elected several times. Fellow delegates elected and re-elected him as their Speaker beginning in 1799, and he served until 1802.
Smith moved to Norfolk, Virginia and accepted the office of tax Collector for the Port of Norfolk, serving from October 12, 1807, until his death on September 28, 1813.
Personal life.
Smith married twice. On April 21, 1781, he married Mary Eleanor Hill. Following her death, on May 25, 1804, Smith married Sophia Ann Tazewell Taliaferro (widow of Benjamin Taliaferro) at the home of her brother, Littleton Waller Tazewell, who would become Governor of Virginia in 1834–36. Her father was Judge Henry Tazewell of Williamsburg.
Death and legacy.
Smith died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1813. He is buried in Dinwiddie County with a nice toumb stone in the rock wall cemetery at Village View or Diamon Springs or Smith Farm. Same place different names.
References.
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, in the old House chamber in the Virginia State Capitol

Colin Larkin (footballer)
Irish footballer (born 1982)
Colin Larkin (born 27 April 1982 in Dundalk, County Louth) is an Irish professional footballer, who plays as a forward for Sunderland RCA.
He has previously played for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Kidderminster Harriers, Mansfield Town, Chesterfield, Northampton Town, Lincoln City and Gateshead.
Playing career.
Larkin began his professional career with Wolverhampton Wanderers. He progressed through their youth ranks to make his first team debut on 24 August 1999 in a League Cup exit to Wycombe Wanderers, where he scored within eight minutes of coming off the bench.
Despite this bright start to his senior career, he was unable to gain any real first team action at Molineux and managed just three (goalless) appearances over three seasons for the club. To gain playing time, he was loaned out to the then League 2 side Kidderminster Harriers during the 2001–2002 season where Larkin made a big impact starting 33 games and scoring 7 goals.
However, with chances limited, Larkin, with two years left on his contract at Wolves, joined Mansfield Town for a £125,000 fee in July 2002. He scored 25 goals over a three-year stay at Field Mill, but an apparent fall-out with then manager Carlton Palmer led to his eventual release to join Chesterfield in 2005 on a two-year contract.
Larkin netted 13 goals in total over a two-year spell at Chesterfield. When the club suffered relegation to League Two, Larkin remained in the third tier as he joined Northampton Town on a free transfer, on 28 June 2007 in a two-year deal.
On 7 August 2009, Larkin signed a contract with League One side Hartlepool United after impressing during a short trial period. In May 2011 he signed a new contract with the club. Larkin was released on 10 May 2012 and joined Lincoln City at the start of the 2012–13 season. He was released by Lincoln in March 2013 and subsequently signed for Harrogate Town and scored on his debut for Town in a 2–2 draw against Bishop's Stortford.
On 12 May 2013, Larkin signed for Gateshead. He made his debut on 10 August as a second-half substitute against Kidderminster Harriers. Larkin scored his first goal for Gateshead on 17 August 2013 in a 1–2 defeat against Barnet. At the end of the season, Larkin was released by Gateshead.
On 8 August 2014, Harrogate Town announced that Larkin had re-signed for the club. However, his second spell with the club would be short as they encountered an injury crisis amongst their forwards. As Larkin, who had recently had groin surgery was viewed as lacking the necessary match fitness to play games during the club's injury crisis, they took the decision to release him in order to be able to bring in new signings. He moved on to join West Auckland Town, reuniting him with his erstwhile Gateshead manager Anth Smith. However, Smith departed the club on 16 December 2014 and a month later Larkin was on the move again, joining Sunderland RCA.
Colin has linked up once again with David Rush and Anth Smith, this time in a coaching role for Sunderland College coaching the men's category 3 team. He is also head coach of Evolution Football Elite Academy.
 "As of 9 August 2014"
A. <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances (including substitutes) and goals in the Football League Trophy, FA Trophy and play-offs.
References.
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Rancho Larkin's Children
Mexican land grant in California
Rancho Larkin's Children was a Mexican land grant in present-day Glenn County and Colusa County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Francisco Larkin, Caroline Ann Larkin, and Sophia Adelaide Larkin, children of Thomas O. Larkin. The grant extended south from Glenn and Rancho Jacinto along both banks of the Sacramento River, and encompassed present-day Butte City, Princeton and Codora.
History.
Thomas O. Larkin (1802 –1858), consul of the United States at Monterey, was unwilling to become a Mexican citizen, and thus could not obtain a direct land grant. In 1844 Larkin applied for the naturalization of three of his children and a land grant for them. Larkin had John Bidwell locate it for him. Manuel Micheltorena, heavily in debt to Larkin, complied. Two days after the children where naturalized, they received the ten square league grant. Larkin arranged for John S. Williams to run the rancho.
John Smith Williams (Feb.1818-May 1849) came to California in 1843 from Missouri. His brother, Isaac Williams, owned Rancho Santa Ana del Chino. John S. Williams and his brother James owned the north half of Rancho Farwell. In 1847, John S. Williams married Maria Louisa Gordon. After three years, Williams left Rancho Larkin’s Children in 1849, but died shortly thereafter.
With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Larkin’s Children was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented to Francisco Larkin, Caroline Ann Larkin, and Sophia Adelaide Larkin in 1857.
Senator John Boggs (1829–1899), born in Missouri, came to Colusa County in 1854 and bought of Rancho Larkin’s Children. In 1866 be was elected to the California State Senate and died in office.
In 1855, Larkin sold the south half of this grant to settlers, and in 1866 the residue was sold to A. Montgomery.
References.
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Oliver W. Larkin
American art historian and educator
Oliver Waterman Larkin (August 17, 1896 – December 17, 1970) was an American art historian and educator. He won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book "Art and Life in America".
Life and work.
Larkin was born in Medford, Massachusetts, the son of Charles Ernest Larkin, a collector and dealer of antiques, and Kate Mary Waterman. He had two brothers and a sister. He grew up in Medford, and later in Georgetown, Massachusetts, where in 1914 he graduated with honors from the Perley Free School. By this time he had already begun to show his interest in the arts. He enrolled in Harvard University where he majored in French and Latin. He received his B.A. in 1918. He won several scholarships as an undergraduate and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his senior year.
He served in the United States Army from 1918 to 1919 during World War I, as a private in the Medical Corps of the 73d Infantry Regiment. He obtained his M.A. from Harvard in 1919. He would return two years later as an assistant fine arts.
During this time he also directed plays and designed scenery for Lincoln House in Boston. He married, on July 30, 1925, to Ruth Lily McIntire of Dedham, Massachusetts. They had one son, scenic and production designer Peter Larkin.
Larkin began teaching art history at Smith College from 1924. He was inclined to teach on account of his father and encouraged by his art teachers at Harvard. He was an associate professor by 1926, and in 1931 a full professor. He briefly also taught at Iowa State University in 1925 and 1926. He was later named Jessie Wells Post Professor of Art. In 1950 and 1955 Larkin lectured for European students at the Harvard Student Council's seminars on American studies in Salzburg. He retired from Smith College in 1964, as professor emeritus.
Oliver W. Larkin died in Northampton, Massachusetts on December 17, 1970, after a long illness.
Writing career.
Larkin authored numerous articles and book reviews, contributing to many publications including "Theatre Arts", "Magazine of Art", "Saturday Review of Literature", "College Art Journal", "School and Society", "Antiques", "Stage", and the "William and Mary Quarterly". He is best known, however, for his work "Art and Life in America". He began work on the book in 1944, at the suggestion of his publisher, but rewrote it at least three times over the next five years. The work traces the development of American art from the seventeenth century on, wherein he considers not only the chronological developments but also following cultural and social changes. He also gives particular attention to the idea of democracy. It is actually a series of six books, divided by period and each further broken down into two or three sections. It was published in fall 1949 to much critical acclaim.
In 1950 the work won the Pulitzer Prize for History. It was the first time a work on the history of visual arts had won the award. "Art and Life in America" was further revised and expanded in 1960. Color plates were added and it was updated to include art in the 1950s. He later wrote two more books, both of which were about artists. The first, "Samuel F. B. Morse and American Democratic Art", focused on Morse's early career as a painter. The second, written after his retirement, was "Daumier, Man of His Time", which related the works of Honoré Daumier to the art movements of his time.
References.
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James Larkin
Irish socialist and trade union leader (1874–1947)
James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and William O'Brien, and later the founder of the Irish Worker League (a communist party which was recognised by the Comintern as the Irish section of the world communist movement), as well as the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) and the Workers' Union of Ireland (the two unions later merged to become SIPTU, Ireland's largest trade union). Along with Connolly and Jack White, he was also a founder of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA; a paramilitary group which was integral to both the Dublin lock-out and the Easter Rising). Larkin was a leading figure in the Syndicalist movement.
Larkin was born to Irish parents in Toxteth, Liverpool, England. Growing up in poverty, he received little formal education and began working in a variety of jobs while still a child. He became a full-time trade union organiser in 1905. Larkin moved to Belfast in 1907, where he was involved in trade unionism and syndicalist strike action including organising the 1907 Belfast Dock strike. Larkin later moved south and organised workers in Dublin, Cork and Waterford, with considerable success. He founded the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union after his expulsion from the National Union of Dock Labourers for his taking part in strike action in Dublin against union instructions, this new union would quickly replace the NUDL in Ireland. He later moved to Dublin which would become the headquarters of his union and the focus of his union activity, as well as where the Irish Labour Party would be formed.
Larkin is perhaps best known for his role in organising the 1913 strike that led to the Dublin lock-out. The lock-out was an industrial dispute over workers' pay and conditions as well as their right to organise, and received worldwide attention and coverage. It has been described as the "coming of age of the Irish trade union movement". The Irish Citizen Army was formed during the lock-out to protect striking workers from police violence. Not long after the lockout Larkin assumed direct command of the ICA, beginning the process of its reform into a revolutionary paramilitary organisation by arming them with Mauser rifles bought from Germany by the Irish Volunteers and