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Article: Carriage Making
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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CARRIAGE MAKING
CARRIAGE MAKING.
Horse-drawn vehicles were made in the North American colonies from the earliest days of settlement, although most travel was on horseback because of poor roads. Soon after American independence, the number of horse-drawn vehicles dramatically increased as a result of territorial expansion, a mobile population, and the democratization of travel.
Famous builders of wagons and stagecoaches established themselves at strategic points like Troy, New York, and Concord, New Hampshire. After carriages for the well-to-do ceased to meet the demand for personal wheeled transportation, private conveyances developed. The first example of this was the one-horse shay, ...