1910 Auto Show Planning Begins

This article in attachment AutoShow122609 was published the day after Christmas 1909 in the Indianapolis Star. The report covers early planning for the 1910 Indianapolis Auto Show expected in March. Fred I. Willis, president of the Hearsey-Willis Automobile Company, also served as president of the Indianapolis Automobile Trade Association (IATA) spoke about the prospects for the event: "Indianapolis has a great many new dealers and our new show will easily surpass any that has been held in the past. We expect to give it on an elaborate scale, and will be able to do this for a number of reasons."
 
Willis also shared the association was well funded for the event but did not share the budget. The preliminary plan was to stage the event the week of March 21 but this would change by a week in a follow-up report published in February.
 
Several notable names in the Indianapolis automobile industry of the day populated the various planning committees:
 

• Executive & Finance - Willis; Secretary Frank B. Willis (son); Frank Moore; Frank Staley and D.J. Hayden.
• Entertainment - Frank Staley; Will H. Brown; C.E. Gamble; F.W. Kohl and J.P. Smith.
• Street Events - D.J. Hayden; H.N. Freeman, George Weidley; Russe "R.J." Irwin and G.H. Hamilton.
• Press & Printing - A.R. Kling; G.W. Stevens.
• Parade - Paul Smith; Frank Menthorn; Frank Leary; Foster Smith and Arthur J. Gardner.

 
Attachment IndyAutoNews122710 contains an article published just two days after Christmas on December 27, 1910. The IATA had not decided on the date of the Indianapolis Auto Show but was considering March 21. 
 
The article segues to a report on the rapidly approaching ninth annual Chicago Automobile Show, organized by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The event was to take place at the Coliseum and the First Regiment Armory. Samuel A. Miles was the event manager. The article notes competition between the Chicago show and two similar ones in New York.  The aspect of the show bringing together both manufacturers who supported the Selden Patent and those who contended it.
 
Manager Miles had set aside display spaces for 250 manufacturers of motorcars, motorcycles, and accessories. New companies that had entered the market during the previous 12 months were set to display. There were 12 motorcycle companies were in the show, all on the second floor of the Annex. Parts and accessories firms were to be in the galleries of the Coliseum and First Regiment Armory. 
 
Attachment IndyautoNews011810 contains an article published in the January 18, 1910, Indianapolis News. The exact date of the Indianapolis Auto Show was as yet undecided. Plans depended on the annual Scottish Rite convocation, so the second or third week of March was the target. Also, it had become a custom to hold the event during the annual gathering of the Masons in Indianapolis. The article remarks on the "leaps and bounds" growth of the automobile industry in Indianapolis in the past year. Up-to-date salesrooms sprouted up as established companies moved into larger facilities. In addition to deals, new manufacturers had entered the market, including three that had not entered the previous Indianapolis Auto Shows.
 
The article also shares in another item that annual Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania hill climb, aka "Giant's Despair Hill Climb," would be rescheduled from its normal Decoration Day weekend to another time due to the National Championship race meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that weekend. This was the first full race meet since the track had been paved with brick.
 
A final item again raises the specter of the Selden Patent. Dealers selling only cars complying to Selden through membership in the American Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM) consisting of manufacturers paying Selden's patent licensing fees. The idea was for dealers with complying manufacturers would form their own licensed automobile dealer organization. Their pitch to consumers was that if they did business with "licensed" dealers they never had to fear getting tangled up with legal issues surrounding the sale of non-complying machines.
 
The leaders of this licensed dealerships movement were reported to be the following firms and executives.

• The Sidney B. Bowman Automobile Company (Apperson & Marmon)
• The White Company (White cars)
• George C. John (EMF & Flanders)
• Oldsmobile Company of New York (General John T. Cutting, Oldsmobile)
• E.R. Thomas Motor Company (Thomas)
• Carl H. Page & Company (Chalmers-Detroit)
• R.M. Owen & Company (Reo & Premier)