Albert Augustus Pope

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Albert Augustus Pope

Albert Augustus Pope (* 20th May 1843 in Boston , Massachusetts; † 10. August 1909 in Cohasset , Massachusetts) was a brevet - Lieutenant Colonel , of 1876, the Pope Manufacturing Company founded.

Youth and military time

Pope was born on May 20, 1843 in Boston, Massachusetts . Due to family circumstances, he had to earn money at the age of 10. After school and over the summer he helped out on a farm and put money back from which he financed a small vegetable trade. He was 17 years old when the Civil War broke out and he signed up for duty for the Northern States . He rose quickly and was promoted to second lieutenant in the 35th Massachusetts Regiment in 1862 , which he was a member until the end of the Civil War. When Washington, DC was threatened by the Confederation, Pope stood out for the quick and careful formation of an artillery regiment. During the war he served under Generals Ambrose Burnside , Grant and Sherman and took part in the Battle of Vicksburg . When the war ended he was 22 years old and was a brevet - Lieutenant Colonel retired.

Marriage and family

His first activity after the war was trading in accessories for shoes, he also ran successfully for a seat in the City Council (city council) of Newton, Massachusetts . On September 20, 1871, he married Abbie Linder, daughter of George Linder and Mathilda Linder, b. Smallwood, from Newton. They had four sons and a daughter.

Cycles

At the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, Pope saw the first bicycles and was immediately enthusiastic about them. He started importing European high bikes and applied for US patents on these European models. In the early 1890s he founded a Bicycle Trust , which owned the most important US patents in this area. Almost every bicycle manufacturer in the United States had to pay Pope about $ 10 in royalties for each bicycle manufactured. The bike brand he made was called Columbia and was based on a patent from Pierre Lallement , which he also employed in his company. Initially, he had the bikes manufactured by the Weed Sewing Machine Company in Hartford, Connecticut , and later bought the company and turned it into the Pope Manufacturing Company . He recognized the trend towards “safety” bicycles as we know it today in good time. In the mid-1890s, at the height of the bicycle boom in the USA, Pope manufactured approximately 1,000,000 bicycles a year.

The worst problem for cyclists back then was the lack of suitable cycle paths and roads. Pope was not only a bicycle manufacturer, but also an avid cyclist himself, and this condition bothered him very much. He founded the League of American Wheelmen , which campaigned for better bike lanes and drafted appropriate petitions to the government.

Motorcycles and automobiles

From 1896, Pope Manufacturing also made motorcycles and automobiles. His chief engineer for the motor vehicle division was Hiram Percy Maxim . In 1897 he renamed his motor vehicle division to Columbia Automobile Company and later sold it to the Electric Vehicle Company , in which he himself owned shares.

death

Pope died on August 10, 1909 at his Lindermere-by-the-Sea summer home in Cohasset, Massachusetts.

legacy

After his death, some companies joined the United States Motor Company . Pope's industrial empire collapsed in 1913.

In 1895 Pope founded Pope Park , a park in Hartford, and donated it to the city.

Fonts

Companies

  • American Bicycle Company (USA, Hartford CN)

Pope vehicle brands

Web links

swell

  • Epperson, Bruce D. Peddling Bicycles to America. The rise of an industry . Jefferson, CT: McFarland & Co., 2010 (all about Pope)
  • Goddard, Stephen B .: Colonel Albert Pope and His American Dream Machines: The Life and Times of a Bicycle Tycoon Turned Automotive Pioneer , Jefferson, CT: McFarland & Co., 2000
  • Kimes, Beverly Rae (editor) and Clark, Henry Austin, Jr.: The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 2nd edition, Krause Publications, Iola WI 54990, USA (1985), ISBN 0-87341-111-0 (English)
  • Georgano, GN (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present ; Dutton Press, New York, 2nd edition (hardcover) 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 (English)
  • Kimes, Beverly Rae: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America. Published by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Permissions, Warrendale PA 2005, ISBN 0-7680-1431-X (hardcover). (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Col. AA Pope Dies at Summer House. Pioneer Bicycle Manufacturer's Health Failed Since His Company's Embarrassment. Won Honors in Battle. Once Organized an Artillery Regiment from Convalescent Camp an Occupied Two Forts. , New York Times, August 11, 1909
  2. ^ Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels (2005), p. 45.
  3. ^ Albert Augustus Pope , Appleton's Cyclopedia
  4. ↑ a b Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels (2005), p. 46
  5. ^ Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Albert Augustus Pope, USV , All-biographies.com
  6. ↑ a b Flink, James J .: The Automobile Age , MIT Press, Cambridge MA (1988)
  7. ^ Rae, John B .: The Electric Vehicle Company: A Monopoly that Missed. , Business History Review , (December 29, 1955), pp. 298-311
  8. ^ Death of Col. AA Pope. Pioneer Bicycle Maker Succumbs After Financial Reverses. Made Fortune in Manufacture of Wheels, but Auto Business Had Been in Difficulties Since Panic , Washington Post, August 10, 1909
  9. ^ Pope Park - History. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  10. ↑ a b Kimes (1985), p. 374.
  11. ↑ a b c d Kimes (1985), p. 1431.
  12. ↑ Kimes (1985), p. 343
personal data
SURNAME Pope, Albert Augustus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH August 10, 1909
Place of death Cohasset, Massachusetts