Made in Butler ~

Bantam Station Wagon 1938

Photo: Bantam Club

Made in Butler ~

Coupe 1940

Photo: Bantam Club

Made in Butler ~

Pick Up 1938

Photo: Bantam Club

Made in Butler ~

Hollywood 1940

Photo: Bantam Club

Made in Butler ~

American Austin

Photo: Bantam Club

The perfect  Christmas present.

Joseph Sherman's Car ~ Made in Butler

Joseph Sherman established his Star Iron Works in Butler in 1890. Two automobiles were built in the Butler factory very early in the 20th Century, one owned by the J.B. Sherman family, the other by the A.E. Russell family.
From an undated clipping of an auto-club run in the Russell car from Butler to Pittsburgh:  "These cars, both 50 horse power, have run throughout the season, with little or no repairs, and without one serious breakdown. Members of the party who made the trip say that some of the miles were covered at a mile a minute clip, and even then the big machine did not seem to be anywhere near its limit of speed."

Thanks: Jeff Schalles

Freedom Towel ~

Made in Butler

308 Mitchell Avenue

Patterson's Foot Lotion ~

Thanks: Georgia Nanni Tavira

Bantam Roadster ~

Wish we had bought more. Kept them in business. 

Product ot Pullman Standard ~

A Pullman Standard railcar that has returned home to become a historical marker. It sits in front of the new transit authority bus station in the center of the Pullman business park. It was built at the Pullman Standard's Butler Plant in June 1974 (plant closed in 1982 and was demolished in 2005) and is a covered hopper car that carried grain. It was donated by GATX, transported back from Canada, restored in New Castle and sent back to Butler in Feb 2011. A more fitting memorial that just a plaque to the old plant and its workers.

                                             Photo and text: Robert Osborn

American Bantam Car Company of Butler ~

Manfacturer of our famous small cars, and the Jeep.

Photo: Thanks DeWayne Johnston

Butler, Pa. --- Home of the Jeep

The first Jeep was designed at the American Bantam Car Company in Butler by Karl Probst. All in all, the company manufactured 2,675 of its version of the car. But the demand was so great and the Butler plant so small that the War Department authorized other larger companies in Detroit to produce their nearly identical version of the Jeep to fill the urgent military need. The Butler company went out of business in 1956.

Poem about our Jeep