They Will Run: The Golden Age of the Automobile in St. Louis

by Molly Butterworth, Tom Eyssell

Overview

Were it not for a few quirks of history, St. Louis might have become the center of the American automotive industry, rather than Detroit. Since the late 1800s, St. Louis has been home to dozens of automobile makes and to numerous automobile manufacturers, large and small. In They Will Run: The Golden Age of the Automobile in St. Louis, head down the road of automotive history in The Gateway City, where transportation has always meant power.

Many St. Louisans have heard of the famous Moon automobile of the early twentieth century, but what about the Dyke, the Dorris, and the Gardner? Learn about the city’s prominence as a key automobile manufacturing hub through the 1960s, and the role played by notorious St. Louis playboy and bon vivant Harry Turner in bring the automobile to St. Louis.

Do you know which vehicles produced here helped the Allies win World War II? Or which ones helped carry and sell beer, create the legend of America’s first true sports car, or were raced around ovals and across the country? Dig down under the roads to uncover the previous lives of streets that once served as Automobile Rows lined with beautiful buildings in which to buy or repair cars.

Authors and car enthusiasts Molly Butterworth and Tom Eyssell deftly take the wheel of this in-depth guide to the automotive heritage of St. Louis. Sit back and enjoy the ride, from the horseless carriage, through the halcyon 1920s, and up to the ever-changing automobile industry of today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681062341
Publisher:	Reedy press, LLC.
Publication date:	10/15/2019
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 11.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Molly Butterworth started her museum career and began nurturing her love of vehicles in high school as a volunteer in the National Museum of the United States Air Force. That career has included roles as curator and director of the Museum of Transportation and historic building preservationist at Faust Park. Happily, that career has also provided a little vacation time to spend with a 1975 Argosy 28 trailer built just blocks from where she was in the shared hometown of Versailles, Ohio.

Tom Eyssell has been a Professor of Finance and Legal Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis for over 30 years, and a car guy for nearly 50. His love of automobiles began with his work as a mechanic in the early 1970s, and continues to this day. He currently has four 1960s muscle cars in his garage and is always looking to add to the “fleet.”