The manufacture of carriages was one of
Troy's early industries. In May, 1815, Veazie & Barnard,
coach and carriage makers, had a factory in a two-story
wooden building, on the south side of Titus' Inn, on First
Street. In 1818, Thomas Williams engaged in the same business
there; Charles Veazie having occupied in May the wooden
building on the south-west corner of Albany and Second
streets, where he manufactured carriages and coaches until
he removed in 1832 to No. 30 Albany Street and there pursued
the business until 1836. Orsamus Eaton, in 1820, began
making coaches and carriages in the building, No. 3 First
Street, previously occupied by Thomas Williams.
In 1830, he removed to his new factory
on the north-east corner of Albany and Sixth streets,
where, in the following year, he and Uri Gilbert formed
the part-partnership of Eaton & Gilbert, manufacturers
of carriages and stage-coaches. The Troy Sentinel, reviewing,
on May 8th, 1827, the changes made in the construction
of carriages for the conveyance of travelers, remarks:
"The improvement
in the mode of conveyance in this country is not
confined to steamboats and the water, as those may well
testify who
recollect the difference between our light, elegant
and convenient stage- coaches, with their spring seats
and easy motion, and the lumbering vehicles which were
in use for the purpose some twelve or fifteen years
ago. We are happy to know that the public are indebted
to the ingenuity and enterprise of citizens of Troy
for some of these additional conveniences.
The valuable improvement
of fixing a seat over the baggage and a railing around
the top of the carriage was first introduced, we believe,
by Mr. Charles Veazie of his city; and in one of the
elegant stage-coaches lately turned out from the shop
of O. Eaton, we notice a still further improvement of
a similar kind. An extra seat is placed on the top of
the coach, just behind the seat of the driver. It is
thus fixed in a more pleasant and agreeable situation,
and gives, at the same time, a better balance to the
load."
In 1830, about fifty
post-coaches and one hundred other carriages, worth altogether
about $50,000, were made at the works of Charles Veazie
and Orsamus Eaton. In 1841, Eaton & Gilbert began making
passenger-cars for railroads, and, shortly afterward, freight
cars. They built the first eight-wheel passenger-cars run
on the Schenectady and Troy Railroad. By the admission of
Edward O. Eaton into the partnership, the firm, on March
18th, 1844, took the name of Eaton, Gilbert & Co. In
1850, one hundred stage-coaches, fifty omnibuses, thirty
passenger-cars, and one hundred and fifty freight cars were
made at the extensive works on Sixth Street, between Albany
and Fulton streets. More than five thousand stages built
in Troy
were then in use in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and
South America.