DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little road dust on top. October 5, 1899. A man named Edward H.
R. Green rolled out of Terrell behind the wheel of a brand-new automobile (a St. Louis model) and pointed it toward Dallas.
Now, thirty miles doesn't sound like much. But friend, this wasn't just a drive. This was history movin' at whatever speed a St.
Louis automobile could manage in the year eighteen-ninety-nine. Riding along with Green was George B. Dorris, the man who actually built the thing.
The manufacturer himself, keepin' an eye on his creation. Smart move, as it turned out. The road took them through Forney, and that's where the story gets its first wrinkle; because somewhere in Forney, the automobile had an accident.
The machine needed repairs. And who did they turn to? Not an engineer, not a mechanic in the modern sense; a local blacksmith.
A man who worked iron and fire got that St. Louis automobile back on the road. You let that sit for a moment.
Five and a half hours after they'd set out, Green and Dorris rolled into Dallas. And the city was waitin'. A cheering crowd met them on arrival.
The newspapers picked it up. Citizens talked. The whole affair caused what the marker calls a sensation; hailed as a first in Texas.
Thirty miles, five and a half hours, one blacksmith in Forney, and history made. Not bad for an October afternoon.
What the marker says
On October 5, 1899, Edward H. R. Green drove his newly-acquired "St. Louis" automobile from Terrell to Dallas. Accompanied by the car's manufacturer, George B. Dorris, Green passed through Forney on his historic journey. The five-and-one-half-hour, thirty-mile trip was marked by an accident in Forney, necessitating repairs to the automobile by a local blacksmith. Upon their arrival in Dallas, Green and Dorris were met by a cheering crowd. Hailed as a first in Texas, the automobile trip caused a sensation in area newspapers and among local citizens. (1990)