Dort Agency, 1916

Dort Automobiles were displayed in front of the Frederick dealership on November 4, 1916.

Dort Agency in Frederick, 1916

For a Tillman County resident who was in the market for an automobile in 1916, one of the choices was a Dort. The Dort Agency in Frederick was located in the 300 block of West Grand Avenue.

The Dort was a motor car that was manufactured by the Dort Motor Company in Flint, Michigan from 1915 until 1924. Principle owner of the company was Josiah Dallas Dort.

Josiah Dort and his partner William Durant had founded the Flint Road Cart Company in 1884 and became the nation's biggest wagon-maker. By 1900 the company made 50,000 wagons, carts and carriages each year. Its name was changed that year to the Durant-Dort Carriage Company.

With advent of the automobile, both Dort and Durant went into the automobile business and are recognized today as automotive pioneers.

In 1904 Durant purchased the fledgling Buick and later went into business making cars with Louis Chevrolet. Durant was a principle founder of the company that would become General Motors.

Josiah Dort was a director and vice president of Chevrolet in 1912, but stepped down in 1913 and eventually cut business ties with Durant.

His Dort Motor Car Company brought the Dort automobile to consumers in 1915.

By 1917 the Dort was offered in four models: a closed sedan at $1,065; a convertible sedan at $815; a five-place open tourer at $695; and a Fleur-de-Lys roadster at $695. These were relatively expensive cars when one considers that in 1915 Model T Fords were selling for $440.

Josiah Dort died in 1923. Dort Motor Company manufactured its final car in 1924.

Dort advertisement for 1915's Chicago Auto Show.