Inside Cleveland's Crawford Auto Museum

In 1899, Walter C. Baker, a Case Institute graduate, already had his own company, the American Ball Bearing Company. Like others of that age, however, his was fascinated by the automobile and in 1899 created the Baker Motor Vehicle Company in Cleveland with friends, Rollin and Fred White.

The Baker Motor Vehicle Company produced electric cars that were so easy to handle that "even women could operate them." The car pictured above was owned by Miss Miriam Norton, the daughter of Western Reserve Historical Society benefactor, David Z. Norton. The two-passenger car's .75hp engine runs on a 12-cell battery. The car's sticker price was $1500.

The advent of the electric starter was the demise of the electric car. Baker Motors merged with another Cleveland-based electric car manufacturer, Rauch and Lang, in 1915 and diversified into producing commercial vehicles. The company evolved into the Baker Materials Handling Company, which went out of business in 1989.

^{(Last updated on 11-09-07)}