ГАЯ
HEEL HISTORY
By Tom Lee
The Detroit
Of The South
From 1850 to 1920, the T&J Buggy Company produced
the Cadillac of horse-drawn buggies.
There was a lime when Carthage
was known for being more than
just the county seat of Moore
County — more than just a nice,
friendly family town settled com¬
fortably on a hill.
There was a time when it could have
been something more, if only the own¬
ers of TYson and Jones Buggy Com¬
pany had taken Ford Motor Company
up on its offer more than 70 years ago.
From 1850 to 1920, Tyson and Jones
produced what was considered the
Cadillac of the horse-drawn buggy.
The company was so progressive, in
fact, that it introduced the first rub¬
ber-tired buggy in the industry, in
1895 at the Cotton States Exposition
in Atlanta. It created such a sensation
that before long. T&J buggies were
being hauled as far away as Texas.
When automobiles started replacing
buggies as the preferred mode of
transportation, it was said that Ford
Motor Company approached the own¬
ers of T&J and asked them to install
an auto-parts assembly line at their
plant. Tyson and Jones, however, dis¬
approved of assembly lines and turned
Ford down.
But although the rise of the auto¬
mobile paralleled the decline of Tyson
and Jones, the company became quite
prosperous around the turn of the
century and brought a good deal of
renown to Carthage.
The company got its start in 1850
when Isaac Seawell and his two sons
established a small buggy repair shop
in Carthage. Eventually, they started
building buggies, too. but in a limited
fashion. In a few years, however, they
found themselves faced with financial
difficulties.
Thomas R. Tyson Sr., a Carthage
merchant, came to the rescue and
bought the business from the Sea-
wells. He purchased it in partnership
with Alexander Kelly, sheriff of Moore
County.
Tyson and Kelly hired a few local
mechanics, among them the Seawclls,
who worked for a short time. The new
firm enlarged the building and
started producing new buggies and
carriages.
On a business trip to Fayetteville.
Tyson chanced to meet a young
painter by the name of Tom Jones. He
enticed Jones to move to Carthage to
become foreman of the factory’s paint
shop. That agreement marked the be¬
ginning of a long, prosperous and
amiable partnership.
When the Civil War broke out in
1861, buggy production ceased, and
the factory was used to make equip¬
ment for Moore County troops. Jones
and some of the other buggy workers
joined the Confederacy and served
through the war's duration.
Jones was captured and held for
many months in the Union prison
camp at Fort Delaware. Being a man
of great resources, however, he re¬
turned to Carthage immediately after
his release and bought a full partner¬
ship in the buggy works.
From then on, the firm was known
as Tyson and Jones. It's not clear what
happened to Sheriff Kelly’s interest,
but he most likely continued farming
at his home on nearby McLendon’s
Creek.
The going was tough for Tyson and
Jones after the war. Many of the firm’s
competitors, like Southern Harness
and Buggy Company in Lynchburg.
Virginia, had access to railroads for
materials. In Carthage, all supplies
had to be hauled in by wagon, on
heavy, sandy roads.
But Tyson and Jones worked hard,
and soon the company gained momen¬
tum and began to grow. Before long,
Carthage was in its buggy heyday when this photo of the
Tyson and Jones Buggy Company was taken in 1912. The
smaller building in the foreground houses a museum today.
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The Stale,1 May ’•©
II