History
From a carriage works on North Vandeventer to the first purpose-built automobile factory west of the Mississippi — the story of two St. Louis marques.
The St. Louis Motor Carriage Co.
The first of many St. Louis automakers.
In 1898, George Preston Dorris and John French founded the St. Louis Motor Carriage Company at 1211–13 North Vandeventer Avenue — French taking charge of marketing, Dorris heading engineering and production. Preceded by a few hand-built cars, the company produced automobiles from 1899 to 1906.
French was the company's showman. In 1900 he drove the St. Louis on the first automobile trip between St. Louis and Chicago; in 1901 he was one of only three drivers to finish a New York-to-Buffalo race, then spent the summer in Boston selling sixty-five cars. A 1902 collision with a streetcar in Pittsburgh injured him gravely, and he died the following spring in Florida.
By 1904 the line included runabout and touring models, each able to take a tonneau seating five. When the French family moved the company to Peoria in 1905 and renamed it the St. Louis Motor Car Company, Dorris stayed in St. Louis and started his own marque in the old plant.
“Built up to a standard, not down to a price.”
The Dorris Motor Car Co.
Two decades of a singular standard.
Dorris and H. Benjamin Krenning founded the Dorris Motor Car Company in 1906. The first Model A paired a new overhead-valve four-cylinder engine with Dorris's float-feed carburetor. The company outgrew Vandeventer by 1907, moved to South Sarah Street, and in 1912 built the first purpose-built automobile factory west of the Mississippi, on Laclede.
A six-cylinder engine arrived in 1915, advertised at eighty horsepower — the Six-80, the car the marque is best remembered for. During the Great War, Dorris produced parts for the Mark VIII tank and shipped vehicles to Europe.
The company paid strong dividends from 1905 to 1916 before losses began. A 1919 attempt by Bert Parrott to merge Astra Motors and Dorris through a holding company faltered; a proposed 1923 merger with Haynes and Winton was blocked by Dorris stockholders. Later that year, Krenning called in his original investment and deferred dividends — $115,000 — and won the company back at auction. His new Dorris Motors Incorporated turned to buses and trucks, with cars assembled from remaining parts through 1926, and declared bankruptcy that December.
St. Louis Motor Carriage Co.
Founded by Dorris and John French at 1211–13 N. Vandeventer Avenue, St. Louis.
St. Louis to Chicago
French drives the first automobile trip between the two cities; a new single-cylinder car launches.
The loss of John French
French dies in Florida from injuries sustained in a Pittsburgh streetcar collision the year before.
The Dorris Motor Car Co.
Dorris and H. B. Krenning found the company in the former carriage plant. The Model A pairs a new overhead-valve four with Dorris's float-feed carburetor.
A purpose-built factory
Demand drives construction of the first purpose-built automobile factory west of the Mississippi, at 4100 Laclede.
The Six-80
A six-cylinder engine arrives, advertised at eighty horsepower — the car the marque is remembered for.
Wartime & capital
Dorris produces parts for the Mark VIII tank; capital stock expands to $1,000,000 as Krenning steps aside.
Auction
A proposed Dorris–Haynes–Winton merger collapses. Krenning calls in his investment and wins the company back at auction for $115,000.
The last cars
Now building buses and trucks, with cars assembled from remaining parts, Dorris Motors Inc. declares bankruptcy in December.
The Companies
One man, several names over the door.
St. Louis Motor Carriage Co.
The original works on Vandeventer, founded with John French. The first of many St. Louis automakers.
St. Louis Motor Car Co.
The Peoria continuation after the French family moved the company; one survivor is known.
Dorris Motor Car Co.
Dorris's own marque, founded with H. B. Krenning — the heart of this archive.
Astra Motors Corp.
Bert Parrott's company, whose attempted merger with Dorris formed a short-lived holding company.
Dorris Motors Corp.
The $3-million holding company formed to buy out and merge Astra and Dorris; the buyout fell through.
Dorris Motors Inc.
Krenning's final venture after the auction — buses, trucks, and the last Dorris cars.
Where They Were Built
Three factories, twenty-eight years.
The original carriage works, where both marques began.
A larger plant; a third floor added in 1909 as demand grew.
The first purpose-built automobile factory west of the Mississippi.