Freelan oscar stanley biography christine

Search Records. DNA Connections It may be possible to confirm family relationships. If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA. Images: 1 Freelan Stanley Image 1. Comments: 1 [hide] [show]. Winter House in Kingfield, Maine. Norton executed the construction of the house which still stands at 33 Winter's Hill Road and is similar to Freelan's other architectural designs.

Freelan and Francis Stanley were well-poised to immerse themselves in the many technological advancements happening around them. Adjacent to the Stanley dry-plate factory in Watertown was a bicycle factory owned by Sterling Elliott. Francis became fascinated by the new bicycle craze and attempted to interest his wife in it. When she fell off and swore she would never ride again, Francis told her, "Never you mind, Gustie.

I will build something so that we can ride together in safety and comfort. After considering the merits of combustion, electricity, and steam, he determined that steam was the most practical. His brother and he would hold steadfastly to the superiority of steam power well after the combustion engine superseded it. By , Francis Stanley had sold his horses and buggies and built his first automobile, using wagon and bicycle parts from Sterling Elliott's factory.

It so impressed the crowd that Freelan Stanley became committed to his brother's passion for steam cars and they began to produce them on order as the Stanley Motor Carriage Company. In , John Brisben Walker editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine , and an early investor in the area around Colorado Springs expressed interest in purchasing the Stanleys' car business.

To their surprise, Walker accepted their offer, although he had to seek the partnership of "Asphalt King" Amzi L. Barber to finance the deal. For a few months, while Walker and Barber managed the enterprise together, the Stanley Brothers stayed on as consultants, Francis in manufacturing and Freelan in marketing. This period was distinguished by a number of publicity stunts for which Stanley automobiles received much notoriety.

Washington , the highest peak in New England. President had ridden in a car. Within a year, due to disagreements, Walker and Barber had parted ways and created two separate car companies. Barber's company, which existed briefly as the Mobile Company of America , moved into a new factory in Tarrytown, New York designed by the architect Sanford White.

Freelan oscar stanley biography christine

Walker's Locomobile Company of America , which became more successful after switching to a combustion engine, moved in to Bridgeport, Connecticut , an important early center for the American auto industry. Disappointed by the disintegration of their former company, Freelan and Francis decided to start again from scratch. Their name was no longer in use and their former factory had been vacated by Walker, but the patents still belonged to Locomobile.

The Stanleys resolved this problem by changing and improving their original designs. In , they began production of a new Stanley Motor Carriage under their old name. The quality of their new cars was such that their rival in the photo plate business, George Eastman of Kodak , Rochester, NY , became an avid customer, acquiring a Steamer in In , the Stanleys sold their dry plate company to Eastman Kodak and Eastman soon dissolved it.

In , with driver Fred Marriott behind the wheel, the Stanleys' specially designed "Rocket Racer" broke the land speed record , achieving The following year, when they attempted to break their own record, the Rocket Racer crashed. Although Marriott was not killed, the Stanley brothers decided to set aside their record-breaking ambitions. They did plan to compete in the Vanderbilt Cup Race with a specially designed "Vanderbilt Racer" but they were disqualified by the strict entry requirements.

In , Freelan Stanley was stricken with a life-threatening resurgence of tuberculosis. Like many " lungers " of his day, he resolved to take the possibly curative air of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. This decision may have been influenced by his acquaintance with John Brisben Walker , who had been a property investor in Colorado since and became a resident of Morrison, Colorado after selling Cosmopolitan to William Randolph Hearst in Freelan and Flora arrived in Denver in March, , followed shortly by his Stanley Runabout which was shipped by train.

Bonney, a great advocate for home treatment, advised Stanley to leave the hotel for a rented house as soon as possible. Stanley spent the remainder of the winter at Gilpin Street but, when his symptoms had not improved by June, he decided to spend the summer in the Colorado mountains. Bonney recommended Estes Park , whose climate he compared with that of Davos, Switzerland , a posh resort for European tuberculetics.

On June 29, Stanley saw Flora off by train and stagecoach while he set out in his car. After getting lost and spending the night in Boulder , Stanley arrived on June During their first summer, the couple rented a primitive cabin from the owners of the Elkhorn Lodge. By the end of that summer, Stanley's health had improved dramatically.

Impressed by the beauty of the valley and grateful for his recovery, he decided to return every summer and acquired property in Estes Park for that purpose. With the help of English architect Henry "Lord Cornwallis" Rogers, with whom he had recently become acquainted, Stanley began the construction of a summer home there, which he called Rockside.

He was accompanied by his wife Flora as he navigated his steam-powered Locomobile up the steep 6,foot 1,meter -tall mountain. The trek up Mount Washington may have been undertaken at least in part to help further promote this new means of transportation and demonstrate its reliability. The 7. Stanley managed to reach the summit alive and intact by driving the Locomobile in low gear and braking frequently.

While these vehicles made by F. He was determined always to have a first-class hotel and instructed the staff to turn away any guests who didn't seem suitable. During World War I, few people traveld and tourism dropped to almost nothing. But Stanley would sit in the hotel lobby, look over the people who came in, and nod yes or no to the clerks.

He would turn away guests even though the hotel was empty. Stanley was very popular in Estes Park. At his funeral in l, one local man said, "He enjoyed sitting out in front of the hotel, interpreting the beauty of the mountains to guests. He could give a respect for the mountains that nobody else could give. The Stanley Hotel is designated a National Historic Landmark and still overlooks one of the most spectacular mountain views in America.

One of the original Stanley Steamers sits in the hotel lobby, and another is used as a bus for local tours. The hotel is operated by the Grand Heritage company that owns several historic hotels in the United States. For information or reservations, call l Stanley usually dressed in a business suit. But occasionally he bacame part of the woolly west.

The mountains gave him life.