Page 8 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

Did you know?

Did you know that Wayne used to
be one of the largest Carriage and
Sleigh makers in the US?
It all began in 1882 when local
businessman John Steers wrote in
his newspaper "The village presents
a rather dull appearance, as farmers
are engaged in haying and harvest-
ing". He pointed out that Wayne at
the time was a small farming village, The company was approached by Factory of Prouty & Glass Carriage Company at Wayne. Photo courtesy of The Wayne His-
and there was no draw to "Bring peo- the committee from Wayne in 1887, torical Museum
ple to town". Around that time many and were successfully swayed with their own lumber, bends and fin- A large addition was built in 1895
people began to complain that there the large amounts of open land and ishes its own wood, makes its own increasing production, and their car-
were no jobs outside of farming, and easy rail access to ship their prod- forgings and metal parts, and paints riages were sold nationwide in the
some were afraid that jobless youths ucts. In 1888 they bought 3 acres and upholsters its own carriages all Sears Roebuck catalog. Over 60 dif-
would end up in saloons. In 1887 a along the railroad tracks just west of in house. Work was 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. ferent types of carriages and sleighs
citizens improvement committee of Elizabeth Street for $8,000 and built six days a week, and men would could be ordered, with custom col-
10 people was set up to convince a a new factory. The factory would ini- drop a token with a number on it ors and upholstery. Around 1910 the
company to move to Wayne and tially employ about 50 men, ranging into a box to record when they came company experimented with the fad
build a factory. The Prouty and Glass from woodworkers, to painters to to work. A few women did work on of bicycles, but never made many.
Carriage Company had been estab- blacksmiths. In 1889 the move and site in the bookkeeping, payroll and Competition from automobiles
lished in Detroit in 1881 and occu- new building had put the company upholstery areas. Workers went on began to spell doom for Prouty and
pied a whole block on Randolph in a lot of debt, so it had to go public numerous trips to Boblo Island and Glass. Allegedly Henry Ford ap-
Street. It was a private company and offer stock to survive. Sugar Island, and the annual Car- proached P&G about buying the fac-
owned by Fayette Prouty and John Many local Wayne families and riage Makers Ball was the highlight tory to make cars in, and the
Glass. While initially successful the business owners bought the stock to of the winter season in town. There ownership gave him a rude and
factory on Randolph was far away keep the business going. After a few was also an employee brass band harsh NO. In 1915 all operations at
from rail lines that were necessary to years the company had flourished that played at town events and pa- the factory stopped due to low sales
ship the carriages all over, hurting and was employing over 150 men. It rades, and many P&G workers made
productivity. is noted that P&G buys and cuts up the volunteer fire department. See Memory, page 14

8 · March 2025 · The Wayne Dispatch