The Concord Room is home to a broad collection on transportation history. It is home to materials on Abbot-Downing Company, Concord Coach, streetcars, railroads, and more!
Lewis Downing started his own wagon business in Concord in 1813; in 1826 Downing joined forces with J. Stephens Abbot and started building stagecoaches. The company declared bankruptcy in 1909 after a long period of slow sales; in 1911 it was bought at auction by a group of Concord businessmen who produced motorized vehicles. The company dissolved in 1925.
On September 6, 1842 the first train cars came through from Boston with three passengers. Many people came to watch and were given a ride to Bow and back on the train. Trains then became very important to the community, with freight and passenger trains coming through many times a day
The streetcar era began in 1881 when the Concord Horse Railroad Company opened its initial four miles of track and it concluded in 1933 when the trolleys of the Concord Electric Railways were replaced by buses. The first horse-drawn streetcar appeared on Main Street in April 1881; the first electric streetcar in September 1890.
There are numerous photographs, images, documents, and books by local authors detailing the history of Abbot-Downing Company and its famous Concord Coach, as well as photographs, documents, and books detailing the transitional history of transportation in Concord.