The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
'Floored' by a piece of history
By George Sparrow, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: March 27, 2008
Several years ago as I was searching the interurban roadbed behind Pierce Lake Elementary School with John Terns and his companion, I became acquainted with Kirn Beck, the owner of the property that abuts the old trail.
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He was most kind in letting us traipse all over his land to achieve our goal of finding old rail spikes left when the DUR (Detroit United Railway) went out of business and they tore up the old rails for sale.
Over the last few years I had seen him from time to time but had lost touch with him.
Six or seven months ago he called and left a message that he had found what he thought was a tin sign left by the DUR, because it made reference to Chicago and Detroit with arrows pointing in opposite directions.
He said he found it by tearing up a floor while redoing an area of his house. I did not return his call but put it in back of my mind, stopping over and leaving a written message on his porch.
Having seen him at Subway in January, I tried once again and found him home. Taking me to his barn area, he pulled out a painted 12 by 20-inch tin sign with the words "Hollier" at the top and "Eight" along the bottom edge.
The middle words were 'Chicago' and 'Detroit.' The color was a rather sickly yellow and some blue, but the whole sign was in sad condition - full of nail holes where it had been attached beneath flooring.
Ironically, this may have preserved the sign to be able to be read at all. If it had been displayed somewhere, the color would have probably disappeared over the years.
Clearly, this was not a DUR sign but the name was familiar to me.
While doing the inventory of the old Depot site for the Chelsea Historical Museum, I had come across the name Hollier in reference to a car made in Chelsea in the early part of the 20th century.
I brought the sign back to the library where I am engaged in cataloging archival material, and it created quite a stir.
I had also taken it to the Chelsea Standard and shown it to Staff Writer Ed Freundl, with whom I have worked on several articles prior to this.
As a Jackson native, he recognized the name and gave me the name of the Jackson manufacturer, the Lewis Spring & Axle Company, as the manufacturers of the Hollier car.
Concerned about the poor condition of the sign, I called my friend James Craven, head conservationist at the Bentley Historical Library in Ann Arbor, and asked how I might go about preserving this unique artifact.
He suggested that I get some naval jelly to remove the rust and keep it from spreading (there is a small, amorphous spot of same on the upper area of the sign) and the best thing I could do to preserve it was to keep it absolutely away from sunlight.
As to the flattening of the sign (it has a rather strong Quonset hut curve to it) just place weights on top of it after covering the bare surface and gradually increase it, a process that can take a long time.
My next task was to find out about the Lewis Spring & Axle Company, because I had heard of the Welch car being produced in Chelsea but had little detailed knowledge of the Hollier car.
I began my search in on the Internet and found that at one time Jackson had been the location of the production of more than 20 different cars.
The company had been manufacturing automobile parts for other companies since the early 1900s and just decided in 1915 to start making their own automobiles.
According to an article written by Steve Ricci in 1997 for the Chelsea Standard, the Chelsea connection apparently began around 1907 when the Lewis Company bought the old Glazier Stove building.
The company used it as a recreation hall for a short period prior to changing it into office and warehouse space.
In addition, according to the 125th anniversary booklet (p.29), "It was exciting news to the village in 1915 to learn that the Hollier Eight (the first production eight-cylinder engine) was to be manufactured here."
Advertisements for their cars emphasized special features found on all Hollier models such as a clutch pedal that could be adjusted to fit any size person, a top that could be lowered by one person only (the Lewis Company did not make enclosed vehicles as was typical of the automobile manufacturers of the time), an "easy to fill" gas tank (from the rear), a convenient instrument board (including a speedometer that went up to 60 mph!), a sure starter that was activated by pushing your foot down on a lever that sent the battery charge to the starter, and finally, "easy riding" springs.
According to the records I found in the Bentley Library, the company offered two models in 1917. The first was a six-cylinder vehicle with springs, cantilever springs, full floating springs, using 33 x 4-inch tires, a wheelbase of 116 inches with 10 inches of road clearance, an electric starter, interior light, speedometer, demountable rims, one-man top, air-driven horn and it came with a complete tool kit and tire jack (no spare appears in the advertisement so it must have cost extra) and it sold for $1,085.
The second was their brand-new, eight-cylinder touring car with all the amenities listed above and it could be made for four or five people. An announcement was made about a new model for the Hollier in the coming month. It was to be a four-cylinder vehicle, but no price was given.
Four years later this car was no longer made in either Jackson or in Chelsea. What happened?
We may have a clue in the letters of a dealer from Muskegon to the Lewis Company's head of sales, a Mr. Millspaugh, here in Chelsea.
I will end with several quotes from these missals.
July 5, 1918: "I have broken down Holliers in the garage and I will tell you, Jim, they will not stand up. Something out of whack all the time. The 6's are awfully bad. The bearings in the rear end give way and that lets the rig gear and pinion slip."
Aug. 7, 1918: "I have difficulty getting parts from the Company. I have 6 laid up for parts and cant (sic) get a thing, not even a spring. I got a letter this noon telling me they are all out of parts and don't know when they will have any."
Aug. 30, 1918: "Now Jim, I have no money and cant (sic) get any."
Three years later, there were no more Holliers made anywhere.
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