02/20/2022
Help us celebrate Black History Month by honoring pioneers in the Automotive Industry, like C.R. Patterson and Sons - the first African American founded car company. Born into slavery in Virginia in 1833, Charles Richard Patterson eventually escaped to Ohio where he partnered with J.P. Lowe to start a successful carriage-building business. In 1893, Patterson bought out Lowe's share of the business and renamed it C.R. Patterson & Sons. When Patterson died in 1910, he left the carriage business to his son, Frederick, who converted the company from a carriage business into an automotive business. The Patterson-Greenfield Car debuted five years later, with a four-cylinder Continental engine, and was comparable to the Ford Model T. Sadly, there are no Patterson-Greenfield automobiles known to still exist today... but how cool would it be if there were?