As you look at these glimpses into the past, we believe you will find many things of interest connected with Henney’s heritage of leadership.
They say the first hundred years are the hardest. Old in years, the Henney organization still is young in ambition and resourcefulness.
We, who represent the present generation, greet the coming years with
confidence born of the experience and intelligence that helped master
the adversities of the first century of Henney vehicle building.
Founder
J.W. Henny Co.
Carriage Works 1868
Original J. W. Henney & Co., Carriage Works at Cedarville, Illinois, built in 1868.
Letter written by J. W. Henney:
In the building of the great vehicle there is a story of absorbing human interest, a story fused from the life
and character of its founder.
A great business appears to be almost automatic in its development. In the full swing of its success it absorbs
mountains of raw material and pours out unending rivers of finished product; and it seems as if such a institution
must always have been in operation and its product always in demand.
Yet back of this success, many years ago, there was an insignificant beginning, compassed by a single brain and
two labor-scarred hands; followed by may heart-breaking years of experiment, of error, and of desperate chances
when it was a daily fight for even the primitive right to exist. With this right established, there came such imperative
need of expansion as taxed every resource of the mind, drained dry the uttermost springs of credit, and tested
the very marrow of courage.
During all these years of struggle the product and its maker grew into closer harmony, each becoming more nearly
representative of the other; for nothing is more true than that goods which are the concrete result of years of
sleepless thought, come at last to represent and to stand for the character, ambitions, and ideals of their builder.
And goods so built have upon them the very finger prints, and the intimate touch and fiber, of those lives have
entered into their moulding. No wonder then that where such a business was established, and where such goods were
made, there developed a pride of production, a perfection of workmanship, and an unswerving loyalty to the highest
business ideals.
First Henney factory in Freeport
Back in 1877 the Henney Company organized its first band, and used hand written music books.
Henney Buggy Company festooned floats, all ready to join in a parade of the gay 90’s
The Famous Henney Band of 1890.
A photograph of the Henney workmen’s annual “stag” picnic, held in 1895.
The Body Building department that helped build the prize winning Henney vehicles of 1893
The Blacksmith department of the Henney Buggy Company, photographed in 1892
The Paint department part of the organization that built 8000 Henney buggies in one year.
No. 14, Henney Cabriolet.
Prize winner at the 1893 World’s Fair.
The Trim department that helped win the gold medal at the World’s Fair of 1893.
No. 22, Henney Surrey.
Prize winner at the 1893 World’s Fair.
