Carriage Capital of the World

The “Carriage Capital of the World” mural in downtown Amesbury recalls an industry that carried the town’s reputation far beyond Massachusetts. Beginning in the early 1850s, local manufacturers developed a thriving trade in finely crafted horse-drawn vehicles. Carriage making became a defining part of Amesbury’s identity, joining the textile mills and other enterprises already established along the Powow River.

The industry depended on skilled hands. Woodworking, metalworking, upholstery and decorative painting contributed to a finished vehicle’s strength, comfort and appearance. One young carriage painter, Charles Harold Davis, developed his artistic abilities while finishing vehicles in Amesbury. Manufacturer Jacob Huntington later helped finance his study in France, supporting a career that would make Davis an accomplished landscape painter.

The arrival of the automobile created opportunities to apply those skills to a new product. After 1900, local factories increasingly turned to automobile bodies, supplying manufacturers that included Buick, Cadillac, Franklin and Hudson. Amesbury firms specialized in carefully finished bodies, particularly elaborate enclosed models. Companies such as Biddle & Smart and Walker became major participants in this transition.

Amesbury’s automobile-body industry declined as large manufacturers brought production into their own plants. The stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression accelerated that change. The mural preserves the memory of a community whose craftsmanship adapted to a transportation revolution and whose fortunes were ultimately reshaped by the scale and organization of modern manufacturing.