Friday 25th January 1991

The US Postal Service issued a four-cent stamp commemorating the Dudgeon Steam Wagon, a steam-powered vehicle built in 1853 by Richard Dudgeon, who astounded New Yorkers by riding it from his home on East Broadway to his place of business at 24 Columbia Street in 1855. The vehicle, capable of holding 10 passengers, was exhibited in New York City’s Crystal Palace, where it was destroyed in October of 1858 when the Palace was leveled by fire. In 1866, Dudgeon built a second steam-powered vehicle similar to his 1857 prototype. However, unlike the first, this vehicle survived and is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Artist Richard Schlecht commemorated Dudgeon’s creation in a 1991 U.S. stamp.