1904 Pope-Tribune Model II

Albert Augustus Pope was born in May of 1843, in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of nineteen, he joined the Union Army where he mustered out as a Captain, though he received the honorary title of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel for distinguished service. After the war, he invested in a shoemaker's supply business in Boston. This lucrative investment later allowed him to expand his business interests to air pistols, cigarette rollers, and shoe findings. In the late 1970s, he invested in bicycles. From 1896, he began to diversify into automobile production. The chief engineer of his Pope Motor Carriage department was Hiram Percy Maxim. It was later renamed to the Columbia Automobile Company. In the late 1890s, Pope Manufacturing began production of an electric automobile in Hartford, Connecticut. From the early 1900s to 1915, Pope would either acquire or open a number of automobile companies including the Pope-Hartford (1903–1914), Pope-Robinson, Pope-Toledo (1903–1909), Pope-Tribune (1904–1907), and Pope-Waverly.

The Pope-Tribune automobiles were built in Hagerstown, Maryland in the factory that had previously built Crawford bicycles. Colonel Pope assigned his son, Harold Pope, in charge of production.

The Pope-Tribune automobiles were4 the least expensive car of the Pope companies. When it was introduced in 1904, the one-cylinder runabout sold for $650. A year later, a 12-horsepower twin was added to the lineup. By 1907, the price had exceeded the $1,000 mark for the first time with the introduction of a four-cylinder model, which had a base price of $1,750. This trend of increasing prices continued into 1908. By this point in history, the Pope empire was crumbling. The Pope-Tribune and the Hagerstown plant had never produced a profit. It was soon sold at a loss to the Montrose Metal Casket Company.

by Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2019