Fourth Street in San Rafael, circa 1905. (Courtesy of Marin History Museum)
This postcard captures life in the early 1900s when carriages, horses and cars shared the unpaved roads. The towns’ main streets were lined with a variety of businesses back when proprietors knew their customers’ names and errands were combined with social visits. Yet, this snapshot doesn’t capture the potential for chaos. Noisy automobiles with gas engines could send a horse careening wildly down the street, upsetting wagons and possibly injuring people in its wake.
The first practical automobile was invented by Daimler and Benz in the 1880s, and by 1900, they had lined up their agents in the United States. In 1893, Frank Duryea built a light horseless carriage called a “buggyaut” — a one-cylinder, four-horsepower vehicle — that ran up and down the hills of Springfield, Massachusetts. Oldsmobile came out with the first mass-produced car in 1901 — the Curved Dash Oldsmobile. Henry Ford, on his third try in business, began mass-producing the Model T in 1908.
When automobiles began arriving in Marin, there was an increase in accidents involving buggies and automobiles. By 1901, a law permitting automobiles to be licensed and taxed was passed. In June 1902, county supervisors unanimously passed Ordinance No. 121, which was composed of strict driving rules. By 1903, there was a petition circulating that asked the supervisors to prohibit automobiles in Marin for three reasons: “The residents and taxpayers don’t want it, “the mountainous character of the county” and “Marin County is essentially a horse-keeping and horse-loving country.” On March 12, 1903, Marin Journal’s front-page headline read, “A question of importance,” which stated “the automobile was a marvelous invention, but its present threat to life and limb called for extraordinary measures.”
By 1904, the restrictive auto law became a burden to Hotel Rafael proprietor R. V. Halton. He asked the Board of Supervisors to relax restrictions, emphasizing the vast amount of money the hotel brought to the economy of San Rafael. A week later, the petition was rejected.
As automobiles multiplied and roads began to improve, drivers traveled further from home. Yet, the repeated violation of the speed limit brought more drastic action. In May 1910, motorists, wishing protection from the speeders, banded together and demanded that the county supervisors take more action. The supervisors appointed deputy Oscar Emerald to take special measures to put fear into the hearts of speeders with his trusty stopwatch and hiding place. After confronting the lawbreaker, it was recorded that most motorists, after a period of blustering, coughed up the bail money and went on their way.
Not to be missed on the left side of this image is the partially covered sign on the brick building that says “Why?” It began with Max James Brandenstein starting his coffee business in San Francisco in 1881. In 1910, Mannie Brandenstein debuted what was to become a famed advertising campaign: “MJB Coffee Why?” This began with a promotional giveaway for fans at the Jack Johnson-James J. Jeffries boxing match in Reno, Nevada. Later, signs were painted on the sides of brick buildings in San Francisco and other cities throughout the country. MJB took this epic campaign to the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition, displaying an “ultramodern coffee parlor” at the exposition in San Francisco, and, no surprise, it was a huge hit. Later, Mannie Brandenstein’s daughter revealed the meaning of “Why?”— “Mannie said it had no meaning, he just wanted people asking about MJB.” And that’s what happened.
All these years later, we still have hazardous driving issues, just not out-of-control horses wreaking havoc down Fourth Street in San Rafael. And coffee culture continues to boom.