PRESIDENTIAL: We got a phone call from a reader about our presidential firsts.

A Smethport resident told us that President William Howard Taft, the 27th president, was the first president to have cars at the White House.

“In 1909, newly elected president William Howard Taft turned the White House stables into a garage and purchased four automobiles: two Pierce- Arrows, a Baker electric and this White Steamer. He was the first president to be officially transported by automobile, rather than by horse and carriage,” according to Heritage Museum and Gardens. 

The White Steamer proved to be his favorite, and he would “use bursts of steam to ward off pesky press photographers.”

Taft was the first president to embrace automobiles, converting the White House stables into a garage and using this car as a “mobile oval office.”

The Smethport reader told us there were six of the cars in Smethport at the time, including one belonging to Mr. Hamlin and one to Mr. McKean, the man who built The Colonial. A store owner at Colegrove had two. “He would come to your house and pick you up to do your shopping.”

The cars were priced at $4,000. The manufacturer was The White Co. of Cleveland.

“Taft firmly believed that the automobile was the future of transportation in America. He embraced this new technology, both in his purchases for the White House and in his promotion and advocacy for the automobile. He encouraged Congress to accept the car in American society and to create car-friendly legislation such as funds appropriations for road systems. These actions helped further the growth of automobile manufacturing.

“President Taft’s massive steam car is now a museum piece at Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts.”