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Washburn, the Home of the Duryea Brothers
Makers of the First Car in America

An aerial view of downtown, shot from the top of the elevator by the photographer Debolt, who's studio is the small building, now  the house next to the Bank's Drive-thru. You can see the skylight in the top of the studio, and to the right of that are horses hitched to a wagon, and far to the right is the Blacksmith's Shop. Part of this attached to the rear of the grocery store pictured below. You can also see the skylight of the Grocery store in both photographs of it. The building in the foreground is the Washburn Train Station.

 Above is the Duryea car, the very first made in the U.S. and arguably the World. The Duryea brothers, who produced the car were born in Washburn and ran the bicycle shop that was located under the old Bonny Theatre. It was there, that the plans were hatched for the car, although it was actually made after they had moved their business to Peoria.

To the left is  an interior shot of The Moschel/ Tweddale Grocery store, one of Washburn's first grocery stores.