Today in Wheeling History: January 17--Alvan Macauley, automotive pioneer, patent attorney, inventor of an early cash register, president of the Packard Motor Car Company, head of the American Arithmometer Company, and Time magazine cover subject, was born in Wheeling (1872).
James Alvan Macauley, who preferred to be called Alvan, was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, to James Alexander Macauley and Rebecca Jane Mills. His father was a Civil War veteran who became West Virginia's first state treasurer after spending nine months in a Confederate prison camp. After the Macauley family moved to Washington D.C. in the 1880s, Alvan began a remarkable career trajectory. He started as a patent attorney at National Cash Register Company, where he secured multiple patents, including US Patent No. 587042 for an innovative cash register design. In 1901, he became head of American Arithmometer Company in St. Louis, where he showed his bold leadership by secretly moving the entire factory to Detroit overnight when faced with local political opposition. The company later became Burroughs Adding Machine Company, which he led for five years. In 1910, he joined Packard Motor Car Company as general manager, becoming president in 1916. He served as president of both the American Automobile Manufacturers Association and the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce. Under his leadership, Packard became the leader in the luxury car market and later contributed to the war effort by producing the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine for P-51 Mustang fighters. Macauley died on January 16, 1952, in Clearwater, Florida, just one day before his 80th birthday.
To learn more: Wikipedia (https://shorturl.at/UKo2a), History-Computer (https://shorturl.at/HBFWr)
Photo credits: Time, Inc. (via Wikimedia Commons), Lars-Göran Lindgren Sweden, History-Computer
James Alvan Macauley, who preferred to be called Alvan, was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, to James Alexander Macauley and Rebecca Jane Mills. His father was a Civil War veteran who became West Virginia's first state treasurer after spending nine months in a Confederate prison camp. After the Macauley family moved to Washington D.C. in the 1880s, Alvan began a remarkable career trajectory. He started as a patent attorney at National Cash Register Company, where he secured multiple patents, including US Patent No. 587042 for an innovative cash register design. In 1901, he became head of American Arithmometer Company in St. Louis, where he showed his bold leadership by secretly moving the entire factory to Detroit overnight when faced with local political opposition. The company later became Burroughs Adding Machine Company, which he led for five years. In 1910, he joined Packard Motor Car Company as general manager, becoming president in 1916. He served as president of both the American Automobile Manufacturers Association and the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce. Under his leadership, Packard became the leader in the luxury car market and later contributed to the war effort by producing the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine for P-51 Mustang fighters. Macauley died on January 16, 1952, in Clearwater, Florida, just one day before his 80th birthday.
To learn more: Wikipedia (https://shorturl.at/UKo2a), History-Computer (https://shorturl.at/HBFWr)
Photo credits: Time, Inc. (via Wikimedia Commons), Lars-Göran Lindgren Sweden, History-Computer
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