The C. R. Patterson and Sons Company: Black Pioneers in the Vehicle Building Industry, 1865 – 1939 was the FIRST PLACE non-fiction winner of the 2023 IndieReader Discovery Awards, where undiscovered talent meets people with the power to make a difference.
Following find an interview with author Christopher Nelson.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
The C. R. Patterson and Sons Company: Black Pioneers in the Vehicle Building Industry, 1865 – 1939. Published September 2022.
What’s the book’s first line?
“On a September day in 1915, the big wooden doors of the local Greenfield, Ohio, carriage shop opened wide.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
The C. R. Patterson and Sons Company conducted business in Greenfield, Ohio, from 1865-1939. Founded by Charles Richard (C.R.) Patterson, a free person of color born in the 1830s South and relocating to the North in the 1840s, this company passed through three generations of the Patterson family. Throughout its history the company transitioned from building carriages, automobiles, trucks, and then buses, all in order to keep up with the rapidly changing demands and technology of the transportation industry during that period. When C. R.’s son, Frederick, began producing automobiles in 1915, he became the first and only Black manufacturer known to have built an automobile. By 1915, the Patterson Company was recognized as the largest Black-owned manufacturer in the United States. This company led many pioneering efforts in providing proper vehicles for both horse-drawn and motorized school transportation and was also an industry leader in winter buggy design. The company nearly saturated the markets of Ohio and surrounding states with their school buses during the 1920s. The Pattersons always tried to find their niche within the transportation industry where they could remain competitive and achieve continued success. The family was also involved in other areas as well, including Freemasonry, politics, and aiding Booker T. Washington in the founding of the National Negro Business League and serving in high positions within that organization for the first decade of the league’s existence. They broke color barriers in education, sports, politics, and experienced a slew of other successes at the local, regional, and even national levels. This is a story of a family and company overcoming obstacles that stood in the way and making the most of every opportunity that was earned — never given.
This company and family have a unique history, and this book documents their story of overcoming adversity and surviving for 74 years in the White dominated business world. This book provides as many details as possible about the Patterson family from their arrival in Greenfield during the early 1840s until 1939 when a series of multiple factors, including the Great Depression, caused the family to finally lock the factory doors and close their unique chapter in history.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
Living in Clinton County most of my life, which neighbors the Highland County setting of this history, I occasionally heard mentions of the story of the Patterson family. For a few years during the early parts of this century, I lived in Greenfield, Ohio where this family’s story took place. The story became a popular topic of discussion once again in the community in 2003 while the old Patterson factory was removed to make way for a modern structure. It was during this time that I became much more familiar with the story of the family and company and found it quite intriguing.
As I continued my education and was in the process of acquiring a Master of Science degree in the Industrial Archaeology program at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, I began to look at the Patterson story once again. Being an Industrial Archaeologist and Historian, I decided to build upon the traditional story and include as many details as possible about the technical specifications of the Patterson carriages, automobiles, buses, and trucks as well as the factory and its setup. As I delved into the research looking for any new details on these topics, I began to discover an entirely different story than the traditional version that has circulated the last few decades. This prompted a change in my research as I then not only focused on the technical details, but I attempted to collect enough information to tell the most accurate history of this family and company as possible. Once this newly discovered side of the story started developing, the research really became a passion project for me.
My research strategy focused on gathering as many Patterson specific sources from 1939 or before as possible. This method allowed me to utilize sources from the time period when the Patterson family and company were actively in business and aided in providing information that was quite different than that provided in articles from later dates. This helped to piece together a better idea of what was happening with the family and business during this time. This research took me to several archives, libraries, and associations across several states. Endless hours of scrolling through microfilm reels of newspapers and other records, as well as numerous interviews with first-line Patterson descendants led to the story that is presented within the book.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
While C.R. Patterson was the family member who founded the company, his son Frederick Douglass Patterson was really the most pivotal character in this history. Frederick was at the helm as the company made its transitions from building carriages and buggies to cars, and later buses and trucks. Frederick’s mentality of never letting obstacles stand in his way and doing whatever it took to continue success in business and life is inspiring. His reach extended beyond business and he touched lives through his community activism, speech making, allegiance to his country, politics, and in many other aspects. There is no one I can think of that I would draw a direct comparison to Frederick Patterson.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
This truly is a story of a family and company overcoming obstacles set before them and still managing to find success. Their success came on many fronts and they broke color barriers in sports, education, politics, business, and had a slew of other successes along the way. While this story focuses on a Black family and business, their story is relevant to American history in general as elements of their story are shared throughout many families and small businesses of the time. The Patterson story is an amazing story of success against the odds.
If they made your book into a movie, who would you like to see play the main character(s)?
It’s ironic that you ask this question. In 2021, resulting from relationships developed as part of the induction of two members of the Patterson family into the Automotive Hall of Fame, the idea of a possible documentary and feature film was presented to me. Planning with a production team for this potential opportunity has continued since that time. Because of this, I have put some thought, or “wishful thinking,” into who would play some of the main characters if I could just magically make it happen. Some preliminary thoughts at the top of my wish list would be Morgan Freeman playing C.R. Patterson, while Jamie Foxx would make a great Frederick Patterson. While normally not given as much credit that is due in the Patterson story, Frederick’s wife, Bettie Estelline, also played an important role and even ran the financial operations of the company for a while. I would love to see Zendaya in the role of Bettie Estelline.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
The first edition of this book is a near duplicate adaptation of my master’s thesis and was my first book in 2010. While not originally intended to be a book, when the thesis was completed my advisor told me that I’d “be an idiot not to share this story with the public.” And that’s how the original edition came about. However, the second edition of 2022 was developed due to the massive amount of additional research related to script development for the potential film about the Pattersons. The second edition is much more in depth and has nearly double the content as the first edition. The second edition is more story-like and includes more personal and intimate details about the family and company.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I work as a professional Archaeologist and Historian. I hold three degrees in Archaeology and have a background in History.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
What motivates me with the Patterson story is mainly to get this amazing story out there. There are few stories being told about the successes of the “little guy,” and adding that this is a story of Black success makes the story more unique. For example, there were over 1,500 car makers in the United States during the early years of auto making. Most people have never heard of 98% of these early makers apart from those few that survived for more than a few years. There are hundreds of books available about Ford, the Dodge brothers, Chrysler, and other large makers, but I can provide a story of one of the small manufacturers that tried and didn’t quite make it, which helps to make the history of early automaking more complete.