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Today in Automotive History

1991 Early Automobile Appears On Stamp

The United States Postal Service issued a four-cent stamp commemorating the Dudgeon Steam Wagon, a steam-powered vehicle built in 1866 by steam pioneer Richard Dudgeon. Scottish-born Dudgeon completed his first steam wagon in 1857, and with the exception of its steering mechanism, the vehicle was essentially a steam locomotive, complete with a smokestack and exposed cylinders at the forward end of its boiler. The vehicle, capable of holding 10 passengers, was exhibited in New York City's Crystal Palace, where it was destroyed in October of 1857 when the Palace was leveled by fire. In 1866, Dudgeon built a second steam-powered vehicle similar to his 1857 prototype. However, unlike the first, this vehicle survived and is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Artist Richard Schlecht commemorated Dudgeon's creation in a 1991 U.S. stamp.