UTC 340 at Jones Car Builders Plant, Watervliet, N.Y.

Archive # 590.

Letter about Jones Car Co. being located in Schenectady

CHAPTERS IN CITIES FROM COAST TO COAST
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION “THE BULLETIN”
NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER

2512 McGovern Drive
Schenectady, N.Y. 12309
September 12, 1968

Mr. Joseph A. Smith
2320 17th St.Troy, N.Y.

Dear Joe,

Your two letters on the Jones Car Co. are positively overwhelming. I would be thoroughly convinced that the firm was never located in Schenectady -- except for the two enclosures Xeroxed from the original publications which are in the possession of Bernie Balm. If the Jones Car Co. was not in Schenectady at that time, apparently they at least thought they were.

I have the following additional information from Al Gayer which he obtained some time ago from the Schenectady County Historical Society:

"The Jones Mfg. Co. came to Schenectady from West Troy (now Watervliet) in 1875, renting the premises of the Schenectady Car Co. for the manufacture of street cars. Soon after, the works were enlarged and they began the manufacture of drawing—room cars and sleepers, when E. Nott Schermerhorn was appointed Receiver and for eight months the business was continued by him. About the beginning of 1885 they were released to the New York Sleeping Car Co. which is at the present time the controller of the works (1886). The plant was located on Mill Lane."

Mill Lane is the alley running from the corner of Church and State Sts. in Schenectady down behind the present Stockade Restaurant. The above account is not real clear as to what went on circa 1885, but apparently the Jones Co. in Schenectady was in financial trouble and in receivership. It’s conceivable that Walter Jones could have gone back to Watervliet and reopened there under a slightly different name, or even that J.M. Jones Son’s Co. could have stayed in Watervliet while J.M. Jones & Co. went to Schenectady, later changing its name to Jones Car Manufacturing Co. as in the ad of 1883. There are three different names that appear to be involved, so there might have been more than one company going concurrently. That do you think?

Many thanks indeed for your researches on this subject. I think it’s far too interesting not to put something about it in the CALL BOARD, especially since I have such nice photos and copies of the old ads —— but you can rest assured that I will be circumspect about claiming as fact anything but the existence of the data. It looks like a bit of a mystery involved, and I will present it that way. unless, of course, something else comes to light in the meantime. The material in your letters will of course be a valuable part of the story, which I assume you are willing for me to use?

As the man says on TV, “V E R Y I N T E R E S T I N G”

Cordially,
J. D. Thompson



































































Archive # 419.

J.M. Jones Works Photos

Hudson Valley #37. Taken outside Jones Plant 8th St & 3rd Ave. Jones Bridge in background.

Archive # 435.













Hudson Valley Railway #43 at J. M. Jones Car Works.

Archive # 432.

J. M. Jones Company

Little is known about the J. M. Jones’ Sons Company. It was a builder of Carriages and Trolleys based in West Troy (now Watervliet), New York. The company may also have been based in Schenectady, New York starting in 1875 for a few years. My grandfather Joseph A. Smith of Troy New York collected what information he could about this company.

Over the next few days, I will be uploading what information he gathered in the sixties and seventies.

Most of this information will be images of the original documentation, along with some OCRs.

This information may be used freely, as long as credit is given to my grandfather and this blog.

Trolley Carriage Builders in the Troy, New York Area 1864-1892



Archive # 412.

J. M. Jones' Sons Trolley Advertisement

ID# 1,554