C. Fisher Wantz's automobile, 1912

Photographer - James D. Mitchell, Westminster, Maryland

The coming of the automobile ushered in a new era in transportation and began a transformation of the cultural and physical landscape. Proud new owner C. Fisher Wantz of Westminster had his picture taken on December 23, 1912. On the following January 10, he collided with a freight train in Westminster and narrowly avoided serious injury to himself and his machine. In the coming years, automobiles soon decreased in price and would no longer be the expensive novelties of the well-to-do. The automobile would redefine American daily life, industry and the physical landscape.