Stagecoach was Important Part of the West

A stagecoach that traveled the west delivering passengers and mail has now made its home at Window on the Plains Museum.
The stagecoach was placed at the museum by Bryan Garner of Amarillo. The stagecoach was found in Kansas City after a six weeks search about ten years ago. It is estimated to be about 150 years old.
Wayne Snider of Wayne's Wagon Works of Amarillo worked on the coach for about two months to restore it. The coach has been used at photo events like the Will Rogers Range Riders July 4th celebration.
Garner's collection of wagons includes a large beer wagon like the famous Anheuser Busch wagon, ten or twelve smaller wagons, some authentic chuck wagons, a unusual grain wagon with a "V" bottom and a wagon that was used in a John Wayne/Maureen O'Hara movie.
Concord coaches were made in Concord, New Hampshire. According to the Concord Historical Society, "Lewis Downing, a wheelwright from Lexington, Massachusetts, arrived in Concord on a mild May morning in 1818 with a set of tools and $60 in his pocket. Downing prospered as a wheelwright, setting up a small factory that had more than a dozen employees. He joined forces with carriage builder J. Stephen Abbot in 1826 and the first Concord Coach was built the following year."
The coaches were tall and wide, custom-made and individually numbered. Each weighing approximately 2500 pounds. The big fitted wheels had spokes long enough to get through mud. The suspension was what made the Concord a popular coach. A pair of leather strips call "throughbraces" held up the coach bodies and provided a characteristic rocking motion that was less jarring than coaches with steel wheels.
Mark Twain, author and humorist, described his coach trip west in his 1870 book Roughing It, "Our coach was a great swinging and swaying stage, of the most sumptuous description -- an imposing cradle on wheels. It was drawn by six handsome horses, and by the side of the driver sat the 'conductor,' the legitimate captain of the craft; for it was his business to take charge and care of the mails, baggage, express matter, and passengers. We sat on the back seat, inside. About all the rest of the coach was full of mail bags -- for we had three days' delayed mails with us. We changed horses every ten miles, all day long, and fairly flew over the hard level road."
The Concords were high-end, expensive vehicles. The cost was justified by the long service life. The company also supplied a much simpler, lighter and less expensive vehicle which they named Overland Wagon and later Western Passenger Wagon.
The Abbot-Downing company survived into the 20th century, and in 1915, began making trucks and fire trucks powered with combustion engines. The company stopped manufacturing after World War I.
Now, the majestic symbol of the West is at home in the barn at Window on the Plains Museum!
The stagecoach was placed at the museum by Bryan Garner of Amarillo. The stagecoach was found in Kansas City after a six weeks search about ten years ago. It is estimated to be about 150 years old.
Wayne Snider of Wayne's Wagon Works of Amarillo worked on the coach for about two months to restore it. The coach has been used at photo events like the Will Rogers Range Riders July 4th celebration.
Garner's collection of wagons includes a large beer wagon like the famous Anheuser Busch wagon, ten or twelve smaller wagons, some authentic chuck wagons, a unusual grain wagon with a "V" bottom and a wagon that was used in a John Wayne/Maureen O'Hara movie.
Concord coaches were made in Concord, New Hampshire. According to the Concord Historical Society, "Lewis Downing, a wheelwright from Lexington, Massachusetts, arrived in Concord on a mild May morning in 1818 with a set of tools and $60 in his pocket. Downing prospered as a wheelwright, setting up a small factory that had more than a dozen employees. He joined forces with carriage builder J. Stephen Abbot in 1826 and the first Concord Coach was built the following year."
The coaches were tall and wide, custom-made and individually numbered. Each weighing approximately 2500 pounds. The big fitted wheels had spokes long enough to get through mud. The suspension was what made the Concord a popular coach. A pair of leather strips call "throughbraces" held up the coach bodies and provided a characteristic rocking motion that was less jarring than coaches with steel wheels.
Mark Twain, author and humorist, described his coach trip west in his 1870 book Roughing It, "Our coach was a great swinging and swaying stage, of the most sumptuous description -- an imposing cradle on wheels. It was drawn by six handsome horses, and by the side of the driver sat the 'conductor,' the legitimate captain of the craft; for it was his business to take charge and care of the mails, baggage, express matter, and passengers. We sat on the back seat, inside. About all the rest of the coach was full of mail bags -- for we had three days' delayed mails with us. We changed horses every ten miles, all day long, and fairly flew over the hard level road."
The Concords were high-end, expensive vehicles. The cost was justified by the long service life. The company also supplied a much simpler, lighter and less expensive vehicle which they named Overland Wagon and later Western Passenger Wagon.
The Abbot-Downing company survived into the 20th century, and in 1915, began making trucks and fire trucks powered with combustion engines. The company stopped manufacturing after World War I.
Now, the majestic symbol of the West is at home in the barn at Window on the Plains Museum!