Patterson-Greenfield

Patterson-Greenfield was the motor-vehicle trade name created by Frederick Douglass Patterson from a remarkable family carriage business. Charles Richard Patterson was born enslaved in Virginia in the 1830s, reached Ohio before the Civil War and learned blacksmithing and carriage craft in Greenfield. He joined James P. Lowe's carriage shop, became a partner in J. P. Lowe & Company and bought Lowe's interest in 1893. The firm became C. R. Patterson, Son & Company when son Samuel joined, then C. R. Patterson & Sons after Frederick returned from teaching following Samuel's death. Its high-quality buggies, carriages, winter vehicles and school wagons used the slogan 'If it's a Patterson, it's a good one.' Charles died in 1910 and Frederick assumed control as automobiles displaced horse transport. Experiments and repair work preceded formal car development in 1914. The first complete Patterson-Greenfield emerged from the Washington Street plant on 23 September 1915 and is described as a two-door coupé. Advertised production then centered on Roadster and Touring Car bodies. Both were assembled automobiles using a 30 hp Continental four-cylinder, full-floating rear axle, cantilever springs, demountable rims, split ventilating windshield, electric starter and lighting. Published prices range from $685 to $850, still substantially above Ford's mass-produced Model T. Claims of family sedans and speedsters occur in later retellings but lack a sufficiently stable factory identity for extra rows. Production ended around 1918–19 because the company could not raise capital to match Detroit scale. Totals conflict: several detailed modern histories estimate about 30 cars, while Frederick's son Postell later recalled 150; none is assigned as an exact model total, and no Patterson-Greenfield passenger car is known to survive. The company shifted to trucks and buses. A photograph shows Frederick with a six-cylinder light-truck chassis, though its production status and specification are unresolved. A 20-passenger jitney with Patterson body was already advertised in Connecticut in April 1918. Patterson-Greenfield branding reportedly continued on early commercial vehicles until reorganization as Greenfield Bus Body Company in 1921. Five rows account for the documented coupé pilot, Roadster, Touring Car, light-truck program and early jitney. This badge is distinct from Flint's similarly spelled Paterson automobile and from the modern revival project C. R. Patterson Automotive Design.

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