Tyson & Jones Buggy Company

 Carriage Makers — Tyson & Jones Buggy Company (1850 - 1925)

Owners: Thomas Bethune Tyson (1850 - 1893); Alexander Kelly (1856 - 1873);

William T. Jones (1859 - 1900s)

Location: Carthage, NC

Notes:  In 1850, Carthage, NC, merchant Thomas Bethune Tyson (1813 - 1893) bought an existing wagon/wheelwright repair shop owned by Isaac Seawell and his two sons.

In 1856, Thomas B. Tyson and landowner Alexander Kelly formed a partnership to run the wheelwright business and decided to build carriages. The firm was known as Tyson & Kelly (1856-1858). In 1857, Tyson hired William T. Jones as a carriage painter, shop supervisor, and S. W. Humber, as a carriage trimmer. Jones had proved his worth as the enterprise expanded and in 1859, the firm was renamed Tyson, Kelly & Company (1859 – 1873) with Jones joining Tyson and Kelly as a partner. It manufactured carriages and harness. 

In 1873, Tyson and Jones bought out the partnership of Kelly.

The company was renamed the Tyson & Jones Buggy Company shortly after. In 1876, the company produced 400 buggies.

The firm was incorporated in 1889 apparently.

At its maximum production, the firm constructed 3,000 carriages/buggies a year in the 1890s. 

In 1907, employees of the Tyson Buggy Factory in Carthage incorporated the Sanford Buggy Company and planned the construction of a two-story factory at 115 Chatham Street in Sanford, NC. The Sanford Buggy Company was employee-owned and operated. 

The popularity of the automobile led to the demise of the Tyson & Jones Buggy Company in 1925. 

The last buggy reportedly was delivered in 1925 to Neil S. Blue of Raeford, who was in his 80s and had declared that he would never operate a car. The company was sold and the new owners tried to re-established it as a furniture manufacturer, but were cut short by the Depression of 1929.