 |
|
Just a brief history of stagecoaching......John Butler started the first stagecoach in 1776 with a crude covered wagon servicing New York to Philadelphia. It was called the "Flying Machine."
 |
Lewis Downing built his first coach in 1813. He had learned to become a very good crafter of wheels (wheelwright) working in his father's workshop repairing wagons. He took a miserably rough trip from New York to Concord, New Hampshire and swore he wold build a comfortable coach. Together with Stephen Abbott, a brilliant craftsman whom he hired in 1826, they built the finest coaches in the world. They used the finest materials: walnut, cherry, hickory, and oak, and used fine tanned leather for the thoroughbraces.
