Photo of the Month

February, 2006

BLOOMSBURG’S FIRST “HORSELESS CARRIAGE”

       Seated in the first automobile in Bloomsburg was its owner, James M. Staver, wearing a cap and driving, and the other gentleman was Edward Caswill.   The Democratic Sentinel reported Staver purchased the car from a firm in Boston and it arrived in Bloomsburg on June 21, 1900 .   The newspaper described the electric power vehicle as “a beauty and it noiselessly glides over the streets and roads.”

       The two men were owners of a woolen mill, E. C. Caswell & Company, located on West Street on the south side of the Delaware , Lackawanna & Western Railroad.   Staver was also a vice president of the First National Bank in Bloomsburg.   Living in Lycoming County before moving to Bloomsburg, he became the town’s early auto enthusiast.   When he died from a stroke at the age of fifty-seven at Atlantic City on July 31, 1912 , a newspaper described him as one of Bloomsburg’s “most prominent citizens.”