Brockway had long been in the business of making carriages when, like many similar concerns, it transitioned into making self-propelled vehicles in the early 1900s. After a few years of dabbling in the truck-making business, Brockway Motor Truck Company was formed in 1912. Here is the notice in a list of new incorporations that appeared in the August 23rd edition of the New York Times:
This advertisement appeared the following year:
The climb, reported at the time to be the most difficult in the Connecticut city of Meriden, was made from a “standing start.” The truck carried three prominent local businessmen, in addition to the driver, and it had no problems tackling the 12-14% grade. The new Brockway had driven to Meriden directly from the factory in Courtland, New York, and had made the one-hundred-mile trip in nine hours and fifteen minutes using ten gallons of gas and two quarts of oil.
This wonderful photo of a 3-1/2-ton Brockway Truck appeared six years later in a 1919 edition of the Baltimore Sun:
It was owned by Arillo Construction company of Baltimore, and you can just make out that company’s name on the box of the truck. The caption stated that it was equipped with a Rodenhausen power hoist and had a “short wheelbase” for loading and unloading in narrow areas. The 3-1/2-ton Brockway was available in multiple wheelbases at this time, 120″ to 164″, according to B. F. Goodrich’s 1918 edition of Motor Trucks of America, a source that provides a wealth of information about early trucks. Here is the excerpt on Brockway Trucks:
The Brockway pictured below was one of a fleet of twelve owned by H. D. Bahr Trucking Company of New York City. This photo appeared in a 1920 publication. Notice the sign on the building advertising Bahr as the Bronx Agency for Indian Tires.
Finally, in January of 1920, a large truck show was held in New York City, and Brockway was there along with International, Dodge Brothers, Reo, and something like sixty-two other makes. The show was held in the enormous armory at the corner of Jerome Avenue and Kingsbridge Road in the Bronx and, fortunately, the occasion was documented with this photo in a publication called Highway Transportation:
