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1899 – 1900
The firm: Roach & Albanus was a Fort Wayne carriage house. The 1900 Polk directory lists "ROACH & ALBANUS, 11-13 Clay" among the city's classified businesses, with Carl L. Albanus living at 63 West Jefferson. In May 1900 the firm was advertising in the Sentinel from a second address, 31 East Berry Street, as "Agents for the Columbus Buggy Co." — a carriage dealer in the ordinary way of the trade.
The automobile: Late in 1899 the firm announced plans to build an automobile of its own. The announcement is the fact the trade record carries: the Indiana Historical Society's Traces of Indiana History, in its account of the origins of Indiana's auto industry drawing on Dennis Huffman's research, lists "the Roach and Albanus in Fort Wayne (1899)" among the state's earliest automobile ventures, and Duane Schuman, writing the city's automobile history in the News-Sentinel, states the conclusion plainly: "Fort Wayne manufactured the Roach & Albanus (1899-1900)." On those sources the marque is printed here as a Fort Wayne-built automobile of 1899–1900 — the first car manufactured in the city that the record sustains.
What the record does not hold: No production figure for the Roach & Albanus survives in any source reached for this section, no specification sheet, and no surviving example is documented. A carriage house that turned to automobile building at the end of 1899 and was still advertising buggies in 1900 was a small operation by definition; the honest size of the entry is that the venture is verified and its scale is not recorded.
Sources:
- Duane Schuman, News-Sentinel — "Fort Wayne manufactured the Roach & Albanus (1899-1900) and Economy (1908-1909)."
- Traces of Indiana History (Indiana Historical Society), article on the origins of Indiana's auto industry, citing the research of Dennis Huffman — "the Roach and Albanus in Fort Wayne (1899)."
- AllCarIndex, Roach & Albanus entry — Fort Wayne carriagemakers who announced late in 1899 their plans to build an automobile.
- R. L. Polk, Fort Wayne city directory (1900) — "ROACH & ALBANUS, 11-13 Clay"; Carl L. Albanus, 63 W. Jefferson.
- Fort Wayne Sentinel, advertisements, May 1900 — "Roach & Albanus, 31 E. Berry St., Agents for the Columbus Buggy Co."