This Day in American History: August 22nd - The First Presidential Motorcade (1902)

On this day in 1902, a president climbed into a rattling electric carriage in front of 20,000 onlookers and, without quite meaning to, kicked off the tradition of the presidential motorcade.

In August 1902, roughly a year into his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt embarked on a swing through New England ahead of that fall's midterm elections. Arriving in Hartford, Connecticut, on August 22, he climbed into a Columbia Electric Victoria Phaeton -- a boxy, carriage-styled electric automobile built locally by the Columbia Electric Vehicle Company -- and rode through the streets of the city, waving to a crowd estimated at 20,000 people. Riders on horseback and Columbia bicycles fanned out around the vehicle to clear his path, forming what's now recognized as the first-ever presidential motorcade.

Roosevelt wasn't technically the very first president to ride in a car at all -- his predecessor, William McKinley, had taken a private ride in a steam-powered Locomobile back in 1899. But Roosevelt was the first to do it publicly and as an official part of his presidential duties, riding at a leisurely top speed of 13 miles per hour through a nearly three-hour tour that included a stop at Hartford's Pope Park, where he addressed 10,000 factory workers.

The car itself was a curiosity of the era: powered by two 20-volt batteries weighing a combined 800 pounds, nearly half its total weight, and built with an external driver's box at the rear -- a design holdover from horse-drawn carriages. About half of America's automobiles at the time ran on electricity rather than gasoline or steam, a split that would look almost unrecognizable within just a couple of decades as the internal combustion engine took over. Roosevelt's public ride through Hartford, brief and slow as it was, marked the moment the American presidency formally entered the automobile age.

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Also on This Day in History

1775 — King George III Proclaims the Colonies in Rebellion

Britain's king formally declares the American colonies to be in a state of open rebellion.

1776 — British Forces Land on Long Island

Nearly 24,000 British troops come ashore between Gravesend and New Utrecht, setting up the Battle of Long Island.

1787 — John Fitch Demonstrates an Early Steamboat

Fitch shows off his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates of the Continental Congress, two decades before Fulton's more famous version.

1846 — The United States Formally Annexes New Mexico

Gen. Stephen W. Kearny proclaims the territory part of the United States.

1851 — The Schooner America Wins the Trophy That Becomes the America's Cup

America outraces more than a dozen British vessels off the English coast to claim what's now sailing's most famous trophy.

Source: Connecticut History, White House Historical Association