Charles Duryea

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Charles Edgar Duryea (December 15, 1861 – September 28, 1938) was a manufacturer of motor vehicles. He was born in Canton, Illinois.

Charles Duryea and his brother Frank (1869 – 1967) were bicycle makers in Washington, D.C., and later in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1893, they tested their first gasoline-powered automobile model and in 1896 established a company, the Duryea Motor Wagon Company, to build the Duryea model automobile, the first auto ever commercially manufactured. The previous year, their vehicle, driven by brother Frank, had won a race in Evanston, Illinois, against cars mostly made in Germany.

One of their early cars was involved in the first known auto accident. Due to low production and sales, the company stopped manufacturing around 1914, but the name Duryea is associated with automobile pioneers.