Coaching Through the Gilded Age

"No more exhilarating recreation than coaching is awarded patronage in the United States and it is a matter of special pride to New Yorkers..."

FREDERJCK R. TOOMBS, TOWN AND COUNTRY, APRJL 4, 1903

Coaching was a sport based on the Royal English Mail Coach system that gained its reputation on the punctuality and skill of professional drivers. It was introduced in 1784 by John Palmer, a theater owner from Bath. Before Palmer, existing mail routes between London and Bristol took up to thirty­ eight hours. Palmer felt he could improve that time based on his experience transporting actors and materials between theaters. His first journey took only sixteen hours.1

When mail coaches were replaced by railroads in 1830s England, nostalgia for the "romance of the road" ensued. Inspired by their admiration for the skilled professional coachmen of former days, young aristocrats and other gentlemen in England revived coaching and transformed it into a sport for wealthy amateur sportsmen. Driving four horses was, and remains, a difficult skill to master, requiring dexterity, coordination, patience and a fundamental understanding of the mind and physical ability of a horse. Ernest K. Fownes described it as "an art."2 The sport required mastering the difficult feat of holding the "lines" (reins) controlling four horses in one hand, hence the term "four-in­ hand." Unlike the sport of racing, keeping to a predetermined route and schedule were all-important; so guards' watches and toe-board clocks were requisite appointments.

Americans Col. Delancey Astor Kane and Col. William Jay formed the New York Coaching Club in 1875. Both men had been attracted to coaching on their trips to England. In particular, Jay was inspired by his frequent visits with the Duke of Beaufort, an amateur coaching enthusiast. It is said that Jay and Kane were walking down Fomth Avenue in New York and saw an old coach displayed outside a carriage maker's establishment and immediately purchased it. They put together a team comprised of a thoroughbred supplied from Kane's stud, a carriage horse from Jay's mother, a third horse from Thomas Newbold and finally a cab horse to make up the remainder of the four.

The two enthusiasts decided to form a club that represented their interests and soon the New York Coaching Club had its first meeting at the Knickerbocker Club on Fifth Avenue and 28th Street. Among the first members were founders Delancey Kane, William Jay, and Leonard Jerome, Thomas Newbold, William Douglas, Frederick Bronson, James Gordon Bennett, A. Thorndike Rice and S. Nicholson Kane. August Belmont and his sons August II and Peny became members of the club in 1876. Their goal was "to encourage four-in-hand driving in America," organized on the principle of "harmony of tastes and mutual interests."3

The first recorded sporting coach in America was built by May & Jacobs of Guilford, England, and sent to T. Bigelow Lawrence of Boston. The Darking, a true road coach made by Stephen Gower of Stratford, England, around 1860 was impo1ted by William Jay who converted it into a drag and renamed it Ole/en Times.4 The second coach, the Tally-Ho, was made by Holland and Holland of London for Delancey Kane. Kane ran the Tally-Ho on a regular route from New York to Ardsley and seats were sold by subscription.5

Seventeen coaches were listed in the trade journal, The Hub, in 1877.6 They were all handsomely painted. Jay's the Ole/en Times was "cana1y and red." William P. Douglas' "blue and canary" coach, made by the French firm Million Guiet et Cie., had been imported by James Gordon Bennett and later sold to Douglas when Bennett went to Europe. Col. Delancey 

Kane's the Tally-Ho was painted "primrose," a pale yellow. Frederick Neilson's bottle green and vermilion coach was made by Brewster & Company based on design #3328 of 1876 that bepame a template for numerous coaches made through the early twentieth century.7 A vivid picture of the coaches, teams and occupants was written in the New York Times in 1877:

Colonel William Jay, the president of the club, was at the head of the procession. The Col was driving his drag, yellow body and red undercarriage built by Gower of London. He handled the ri9bons over four chestnuts which would be hard to beat for fashion. The harness was brass mounted and the floral rosettes decoratmg the heads were snowballs. Mr. August Belmont came next. He was driving a drag, stylish and comfortable, maroon body and undercarriage, striped with red, built by Brewster & Co. of Broome St. Four superb bays, all symmetry and quality, did their dutr,, the team eliciting much admiration. Harness silver mounted. Rosettes of red roses were at the horses' heads. Mr. Pierre Lor{lard followed sixth. His drag, green body, yellow under-carriage striped with green, looked finely. His team was made up of bay and browns-a substantial lot, capital steppers and gentlemanly­ looking animals withal. The harness was mounted in brass an handsome bouquets of pansies were at the heads of the horses. Mr. Fairman Rogers appeared on a drag built by Barker & Co. of London and drove a team of bays standing about 16 hands, in silver-mounted harness. The body of the carriage was dark bro"Yn and green, the undercarriage red. In Mr. Rogers' coach, besides the driver, were Mrs. Rogers, Mr. Ward McAllister, Mrs. Ward McAllister and Miss French. The toilets of the ladies were very elegant. Mr. Frederick Bronson, who is one of the oldest meclbers of the club, and who is acknowledged to be a graceful and skillful driver, drove a mixed team of three bays and a chestnut, in brass-mounted harness, before a drag with a blue body and red undercarriage. The coach was built by Peters of London. Last but by no means least in the estimation of the club and the spectators who greeted his familiar face along the line, came do!. Delancey Kane with his familiar primrose drag, the Tally Ho. He drove a mixed team of grays and bays. The drivers all appeared in the uniform of the club-bottle green coats with brass buttons, silk hats, and huge peonies at their lapels. The guards were not in uniform, but all wore liveries and appeared in top boots and wore immense clusters of violets in their buttonholep.8

Over the following decades, club members added many coaches to their throng, among them the Tantiuy, Red Jacket, Greyhound, Republic, Herald, Liberty, Lightning, Vivid, Venture, Enterprise, Good Times and Pioneer. There were several coaches named Old Times or Olden Times.9

New York, known for commerce as well as fashion, became a center for carriage manufacturing, owing much to the growing wealth of the city as well as the many venues in the metropolitan area for pleasure driving. Society was ascending from two sources, from old families such as the Schermerhorns, Rhinelanders and Astors, as well as from the newer captains of commerce like Cornelius Vanderbilt.10 During this age of "conspicuous consumption," to be seen and obey the strict guidelines for correctness were cultural objectives. These imperatives had an impact on the ownership and use of horse-drnwn vehicles since carriages were emblems of taste and position as much as they were useful conveyances.

An 1853 advertisement announced:

No city in the Union can present a more handsome array of public and private equipages than New York; a circumstance which, while it has attracted the marked attention of travelers among us, fully indicates the wealth, taste, and social position of a large proportion of its residents.11

During the second half of the nineteenth century, the rise of industries such as railroads, shipping, steel, banking and a general boom in building in the New York metropolitan area created great fortunes. The region's wealth gave carriage makers an eager and able clientele. Because New York attracted manufacturing establishments of all kinds, not only were some of the nation's preeminent carriage makers located in the city, but also a host of related businesses.12 The combination of infrastructure-especially transportation-that facilitated the movement of goods, the influx of skilled craftsmen, and availability of capital contributed to the carriage trade. Special destinations such as Madison Square Garden, Central Park and scenic thoroughfares such as Riverside Drive offered locations well-suited for carriage driving. Proximity to scenic areas made for the construction of more, larger, and more elaborate country estates that supported a variety of equestrian activities including coaching.

By 1859, there were over forty carriage makers in the city, selling an average of five thousand vehicles a year. The number of carriage­ making firms nationally was 7,288, according to the 1860 Census of Manufactures. By 1900, there were nearly 60,000 carriage-making firms nationwide and as many establishments devoted to related enterprises. The 1899 American Carriage Directory lists 3,909 carriage makers in New York, as well as 1,660 dealers and 951 sleigh manufactures and dealers.13

Of all the carriage-making establishments, none could equal Brewster & Company. Its reputation for quality vehicles, elegant design and superior finish was unsurpassed. James Brewster founded the firm in 1810 in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1856, his youngest son Henry joined partners John R. Lawrence and John Britton to form "Brewster of Broome Street" with a repository (display showrooms) on Broadway. In 1860, the repository moved to the corner of 141th Street and Fifth Avenue where members of New York society attended the spring openings to view fashionable vehicles of the season. In 1874, Brewster & Company combined warehouse and factory facilities on 47 & 48 th Streets and Broadway for a state-of-the art complex designed by Edward A. Sargent that had a block frontage of two hundred feet. Over four hundred men were employed when their new facility opened. Their clientele included Alfred G. Vanderbilt, August Belmont, J. P. Morgan, Jay Gould, William Rockefeller, He111y Clay Frick, Pierre Lorillard and other members of Gilded Age society.

The principals of Brewster & Company had a close relationship with members of the New York Coaching Club. They promoted English driving master Button Mansfield, who gave lessons in coaching to prospective clients from an office attached to their firm. The company was the primary source for vehicles of all types owned and used by New York society.The firm stayed apprised of domestic as well as international styles, and was the first American carriage manufacturer to make coaches specifically for the sport of driving.14 The May & Jacobs coach that had been ordered by T. Bigelow Lawrence of Boston and subsequently sent to New York may have been the model for the first of its type to appear in Brewster's 1850-1874 draft book with the notation "made in England." (There are records, although very scant, that Brewster & Company purchased and displayed an English coach in their showrooms on 14th Street.) They built the first "Regulation Coach" for the sport in 1878, based on Kane's Tally-Ho.

Brewster built three road coaches for the New York Coaching Club.  The first was based on its Draft 3328 from 1876 and built in 1880. The club's second coach may have been made for an individual and was eventually traded in. The third and last coach used by the club was the Pioneer, listed in Specification Record #20690 as the second Pioneer, made specifically for the club and the seventy-ninth sporting coach made by the firm (the number "79" was painted on the axle). It was ordered on February 15, 1895, and based on Design #4126a that was entered into Brewster's draft book in 1890. The vehicle was completed on April 9, 1898, at the cost of $2,400. It weighed 2,673 pounds, relatively light for a vehicle of this type.

The Pioneer was painted "Mansfield style" (named after professional coachman Burton Mansfield) with black upper  quarter panels, white body and boot panels, vermilion toe board and undercarriage, and black striping. The name Pioneer and the club's insignia of interlocking double "C's" over lead bars were painted on the crest panel and the seal of the state of New York was painted on the door panels. The stable shutters were divided into panels and painted vermilion and black. The seats were trimmed in a fabric of black, yellow, off-white and beige uncut loop fabric called "tapestry." The subscription numbers of enameled vermilion on round leather bosses were sewn onto the fronts of the seat cushions.

As with the Tally-Ho, subscriptions were sold for seats on the Pioneer. Single fare was $3.00; round trip was $5.00. The whole coach could be reserved for $60.00. It was $1.00 extra to sit on the box seat. An engraved brass timetable attached to the toe board recorded its route from New York City through towns in Westchester. The interior was finished in varnished oak with pigskin door pockets and woven raffia seats. The coaching club insignia was repeated through the accessories such as lap aprons and quarter blankets as well as on the brass harness hardware. The equipage included a cockhorse harness and leather-covered chain that connected the harness to the pole head (a cockhorse was a fifth horse added for steep inclines and was ridden independently of the four horses that were driven). The brow bands of checked vermilion and white enameled leather reiterated the color scheme of the coach.

The Pioneer maintained a regular scheduled run of fifty­ five miles from the Holland House in New York City to the Ardsley Club in Tanytown from 1898 to 1906, when it was retired from service as a public coach. In his inscription to William Brewster of his book The Coaching Club; Reginald Rives described it as the "most perfect road coach ever built. It embodies the highest class of work attained by their [Brewster & Company's) mechanics. Eventually this vehicle will be placed in a museum as a specimen of the perfection to which the coach builders' art bad developed."15

New York's proximity to attractive destinations in the countryside was another factor influencing the popularity of coaching in the city during the Gilded Age. North ofManhattan, Westchester County provided rolling countryside along the Hudson River for grand estates. Long Island's North Shore "Gold Coast" also offered wealthy city dwellers a picturesque landscape and views of Long Island Sound.16

From the years roughly between 1870 and 1900, families with familiar names such as Vanderbilt, Frick, Astor and Rockefeller accumulated spectacular fortunes. The wealth of industry, railroads, real estate, banking and other enterprises that flourished in metropolitan New York created a new American gentry. With a seemingly endless       amount       of     expendable income, before income tax dented personal wealth, members of this echelon of society built immense houses in Manhattan and even larger estates in nearby scenic areas that were quickly deemed "fashionable," including "cottages" in Newpo1t and "camps" in the Adirondacks. These may have been largely imitations of English models, but American countly estates were noteworthy for a love of novelty and even greater passion for sports, combining American daring with English gentilly. Toroughbred racing, fox hunting, polo and coaching  were popular sports on these estates and surrounding count1yside. Moreover, coaches served as mobile grandstands for diverse equestrian sports held at popular locations such as Jerome Park.

The New York Coaching Club excursions were launched in the city at locations such as the Hotel Brunswick or Madison Square Park. The routes went through Central Park, up Fifth Avenue or north on Riverside Drive, to destinations in Westchester such as the Ardsley Club and Pelham, or else east to Long Island. One of the Long Island destinations was August Belmont's farm near Babylon on the South Shore. The club set out from the Hotel Brunswick at 9:30 a.m. on the Pioneer with three bays and one gray horse. Belmont was on the box seat and accompanied by George Fearing, J. V. Parker, Col. Jay, Leonard Jerome, Theodore Havemeyer, J. R. Roosevelt and Col. Kane. They traveled down Fifth Avenue, through Central Park to Astoria and Flushing (Queens) and to Lakeville and Garden City to the Sportsmen's Hotel inAmityville. They had lunch at the Garden City Hotel, taking turns on the box seat at each destination. Belmont took over after a change of horses and they continued on to Babylon, arriving at 6:oo p.m. The trip covered forty­ three miles.17

Other excursions included visits to J. Seward Webb's splendid estate in Shelburne, Vermont, with its magnificent views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains. Seward Cary maintained a route between Buffalo and Niagara with his brewster § Company coach The red Jacket

One of the most ambitious trips took place on october 9, 1901, betwen New york and Philadelphia, when Alfred G. Vanderbilt and fellow coaching enthusiast James Hazen Hyde embarked on one of the most famous coaching events on record. The trip was 224 miles long, the average speed twelve miles per hour. It was completed in nineteen hours and thirty-five minutes and used seventy-two horses, many of them previously unbroken to the coach. Assisted by professional coachman Morris Howlett, the trip began at 5:55 a.m. at Holland House on Fifth Avenue at  30" Street. Horses, whips, grooms and guests went to Jersey City by ferry then continued their journey by coach to Elizabeth, New Jersey, then on to Rahway, Metuchen, New Brunswick, Franklin Park, and Ten Mile Run to Lotz Farm, before continuing on to Princeton and the Princeton Inn, then Trenton. Crossing the Delaware River, next was Bristol, Pennsylvania, and the Black Horse, then to Cornwells and the Delaware House, then to Collegeville and the Vandergrift Hotel before reaching the final destination of Philadelphia and the Bellevue Hotel. Upon arrival in Philadelphia, the crowd cheered. Only six minutes elapsed before the intrepid team returned to New York arriving at 1:36 a.m. The entire trip was completed in nineteen hours and thirty-five minutes.

One of the classes required the four-in-hands to drive to the Garden from the upper part of Manhattan. There was also a class called the Arrow Inn Challenge Cup for road teams to drive to a coach canying no less than seven people. These coaches were to leave the Arrow Head Inn on 117'h Street and arrive at the Garden in one hour.

The National was the first great indoor horse show and quickly became a gathering for horse aficionados, high society, celebrities and curious spectators, who were as interested in the crowd as in the events. One young exhibitor was seven­ year-old Alfred G. Vanderbilt, who showed his Shetland pony.

From a social standpoint the exhibition promises to equal if not eclipse all previous shows. The event offers the first chance of the season for the display of the latest creations in hats and dresses from Paris firms. The area boxes will present an interesting appearance and includes among the holders: Mrs. Charles Proctor, William Moore, Alfred Vanderbilt, Delancey Kane, W. K. Vanderbilt, Paul Sorg and Thomas Hitchcock.20

In 1890, the National Horse Show became elevated to one of the most popular events of the year, owing to the magnificent new Madison Square Garden designed by renowned architect Stanford White. The new design included boxes and a grand promenade and was richly colored. The 1894 exhibition included nearly eight hundred horses. Its status as an arena for fine horses as well as fashion continued. In 1900, the New York Times stated that "the horse show promises to be a show for gowns, furs, and jewels and a school of instruction for milliners and dressmakers for the large cities outside of New York."21 

It was "an annual dress frolic," where people "saved their money for weeks to go and see society and its good clothes." With an obsession for seemingly endless descriptions of dresses and hats, the press recorded every detail of what the fashionable women wore at the horse show. It was especially suited to this because unlike the opera or the theater, it ran for weeks and fashionable ladies could be seen in their changing splendor throughout the day and night as well as over the week's duration of the show.

The National Horse Show established rules for all of its classes and set the standard for turnout for horse-drawn vehicles. There was some controversy over the mania for English styles and breeds, especially in the judges' preference for English hackneys over American trotters. However, the event set the fashion and soon hackneys were imported to America. As reported in the New York Times, "Society's horse is the modern Hackney."22

The New York Coaching Club inspired the formation of similar organizations. In 1890, The Philadelphia Four in Hand Club was founded with distinguished members of Philadelphia society such as Alexander Johnston Cassatt of the Pennsylvania Railroad and brother of American artist, Mary Cassatt, Barclay Warburton and Fairman Rogers. The Ladies' Four-in-Hand Club was formed in 1901. Brewster & Company made their coach, the Arrow, and their meets began at the Colony Club on Park Avenue.23 Members included Mrs. Thomas Hastings, Marion Hollins, Belle Beach, Harriet Alexander and Mrs. Arthur Iselin. All of the members of the club were accomplished horsewomen who demonstrated their coaching skills on regular trips to Bronx Park and Greenwich, Connecticut. Morris Howlett assisted as their professional coachman..

By the turn of the century, the novelty of the automobile began to compete for the attention of the wealthy members of society. Soon it would replace the carriage as a primary mode of transportation. The expansion of suburban communities, loss of country, and general cultural shifts led to the inevitable diminishment of coaching in the twentieth century except for a few enthusiasts such Js Ambrose Clark, Harris Fahnestock, Viola Winmill and Chauncey Stillman.

In 1915, Morris Howlett remarked in the Official Blue Bo k of the National Horse Show,

The spirit of the horse is dead in and around New York, the erstwhile horsemen have, some of them, become speed maniacs and the only thing that satisfies their want is the motorcar.24

Reginald Rives echoed Howlett's sentiments in his 1935 record of the club:

It was, of course, with deep regret that this great sport had to be abandoned when it was, but the rapid introduction of the automobile, both for pleasure and commercial purposes, forced the issue, it being evident that there was not room for both on the road, and the excessive speed of the automobile far outdid the coach and four."25

   However, belying this death knell, Oliver H. P. Belmont declared,

"No sport which requires the perfection of skill and dash and the exercise of nerve will ever be abandoned by Americans."26

Many of the coaches used by the original members of the New York Coaching Club have changed ownerships and paint schemes over the years. Notable examples are preserved in museum collections or are put to use by the considerable number of individuals who continue the sport of coaching today.

Notes

1 For more information on John Palmer, see John Ford in the Carriage Journal, Vol. 48, No. 5, October 2010.

2 "National Horse Show Awakens Memories," New York Her Id Tribune, November 12, 1933.

3 There are many descriptions of the activities of the New York Coaching Club, especially in newspapers contemporary with its most active years in New York. The most comprehensive history was privately published by Coaching Club president Reginald RiveJ in 1935.

4 A comprehensive history of Jay's coach The Darking/The Olden Times is in an unpublished appraisal prepared by Thomas W. Geyer, June 16, 2008. I am indebted to Geyer for his summary of the coach's history. This coach is now in the possession of the lslin family.

5 The Tally-Ho is in the carriage collection of the Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carriages. Gift of Mrs. Delancey A. Kane, through the Museum of the City of New York.

6 The Hub, Vol. 19, No. 4, July 1, 1877, p. 168. The article notes that Brewster & Company was building three "regulation" coaches, two for prominent New York gentlemen and one for San Francisco.

7  Coaches follow a traditional form with little variation. There were distinctions between a drag and a road coach, but it was not uncommon to find combinations of those features or conversions from one to the other on specific vehicles. Likewise, colors varied and were governed by prevailing tastes as well as what was considered "harmonious" in terms of color combinations. Color harmony was not arbitrary, but was calculated accorded to scientific color wheels. Colors of vehicles also conformed to the "stable colors" of the owner, and were followed en suite throughout the turnout. Color directives found in various records for Brewster & Company may say "paint his claret," indicating a special color of the client. Color combinations ranged from green and vermillion, to pale blue and black, to primrose (yellow) and rifle green to brown, black and vermillion. Striping directives ranged from fine lines, "New Drag Style," or "Mansfield Style." Examples preserved in original condition assist in understanding these specifications.