World's First Doctor to Make House Calls in an Automobile

Throughout most of the twentieth century, the city of Detroit, Michigan, was synonymous with American automobile manufacturing. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, that was not the case. Instead, Ohio innovators in Cleveland and elsewhere were at the forefront of this new form of transportation technology.

Because of Ohio's important role in the early automobile industry, the state was the site of numerous firsts in automobile history. Among these firsts was the first automobile accident. In 1895, Youngstown Dr. Carlos C. Booth commissioned the Fredonia Carriage and Manufacturing Company to build an automobile that Booth had designed. The company completed Booth's car, and the doctor proceeded to use the automobile to make house calls in Youngstown. Booth eventually stopped the practice, claiming that the car made a "commotion among the horses."