This carriage auto originally cost $900 new and was powered by a one-cylinder, 7-hp engine; displacement 123; 66 inch wheelbase; built in St. Louis, Missouri; donated in 1966 by William T. Dooley Jr. The St. Louis Motor Carriage Company was the first successful automobile business west of the Mississippi River. A manufacturer of automobiles at 1211–13 North Vandeventer Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri, it was founded by George Preston Dorris (later credited with developing and patenting the float-carburetor) and John French in 1898. French took charge of marketing with Dorris heading engineering and production. The firm built 680 vehicles in its St. Louis plant from 1899 to 1905.  French left to build vehicles in Peoria, Illinois, while George Dorris stayed behind in St. Louis and founded the Dorris Motor Car Company in 1906. St. Louis Motor Carriage was the first of many St. Louis automakers and produced automobiles from 1899 to 1907.