Springfield Then & Now: Paige and Jewett Sales and Service

Credit: HANDOUT

Credit: HANDOUT

In the late 1800s, Pern T. Rathbun started out as a stenographer for the P.P. Mast Buggy Company.

Around 1901, he and the Mast paint shop foreman, Jacob F. Fisher, started Rathbun, Fisher and Co. as manufacturers and dealers in carriages and buggies with a shop on W. Main Street.

As automobiles became more prevalent, Rathbun joined with J.W. Teach, shifted his business model, and by 1918 had opened P.T. Rathbun and Co. The new business sold and repaired tires and Maxwell and Paige cars.

The Paige automobile was marketed as “the most beautiful car in America.” Their shop at 20 S. Spring is shown here around 1924 when they dealt in Paige and Jewett motor cars.

Today the site is used as a parking lot for the High Street United Methodist Church.

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