In 2015, there were nearly 113 million registered cars in the United States, mostly powered by gasoline. A pair of Illinois brothers is credited with building the first gas-powered automobile in American history.

Frank and Charles Duryea, who grew up near the Stark County town of Wyoming, drove their creation on the streets of Springfield, Massachusetts, on Sept. 21, 1893. Two years later, they won the first automobile race in the United States, a 54-mile run from Chicago to Evanston and back on Thanksgiving Day 1895.

Charles was born in Canton, Illinois, on Dec. 15, 1861, while Frank was born in Wyoming, where much of their childhood was spent, on Oct. 8, 1869. A local genealogical source reports that local teacher William Sandham was a source of great inspiration.

A biographer of Charles Duryea asserts that he “learned more at the Wyoming school than at all his other schools together.” The father is buried in Pleasant Valley Cemetery.

Both boys showed ample scientific and mechanical skill. The aforementioned source says that Charles built his first bicycle in Wyoming in 1878, using images from a catalog. That led to a job as a bicycle mechanic in Peoria.

Charles was watching a gasoline engine at the Ohio State Fair in 1886 when he realized that a similar motor could be adapted to run a lightweight quadricycle. He carried his vision east when he landed a job in a bicycle factory in Washington, D.C., where Frank joined him.

The brothers ultimately ended up in Springfield, Massachusetts, where they researched the internal combustion engine with materials at the local public library. Armed with this information, they combined to create their dream machine in 1893.

Rudimentary in every sense, the vehicle was a one-cylinder, 4-horsepower car with tiller steering and a water-cooled, gas-powered motor. The frame, described as a “buggy body,” had oak-spoked wheels driven by bicycle chains and featured an electric ignition with a spray carburetor.

With the car ready to test, sources vary on what happened next. The New England Historical Association writes that “Charles found an investor and then stormed back to Illinois.” The website for the History Channel notes that, when the car was tested, “the elder Duryea was fixing bikes in Peoria.” Another says, “Charles went back to Illinois to follow other pursuits.”

Whatever the case, the car was reportedly funded by $1,000 from an investor, which covered the needed space in an old machine shop, secondhand parts, and salary for Frank, who worked 10 hours a day to complete the machine.

When the car finally ran, with Frank at the wheel, on Sept. 21, the Springfield Morning Union reported that “residents…flocked to the windows…astonished to see gilding by in the roadway a common top carriage with no shafts and no horse attached.” The car, though, managed to ride only 600 feet before the friction-belt transmission gave way.

Frank later built a second car, which was on display at the first motor race in the nation, held in Chicagoland on Nov. 28, 1895, and sponsored by the Chicago Times-Herald. Inclement weather hampered the race, which was intended to run from Chicago to Waukegan and back, a total of 92 miles. But 8 inches of snow, described as a “spectacular blizzard,” fell just before the race, shortening it to Evanston and back.

All cars had to have at least three wheels, which were wrapped with twine for traction in the elements, and had to carry two people – the driver and an umpire, to protect against cheating.

Though 89 cars were scheduled for entry, the weather caused only six to show up. Just after the start at 8:55 a.m., two of the starters had their batteries die and were forced to drop out, leaving only Frank and three German-produced Benz models.

Ten hours and 23 minutes later, Frank pulled across the finish line in victory. His average speed was 7.3 miles an hour.

Only one of the three Benz autos managed to finish, as one not only collided with a streetcar on the trip to Evanston, but also hit a sleigh on the return trip.

Frank earned $2,000 for the win, along with some badly needed publicity. The Times-Herald crowed that “persons who are inclined to decry the development of the horseless carriage will be forced to recognize it as an admitted mechanical achievement, highly adapted to some of the most urgent needs of our civilization.”

Two months before the race, Frank and Charles, who had apparently returned to the scene, had created the Duryea Motor Co. in Chicopee, Massachusetts. They produced 13 hand-built cars in 1896 to become the first U.S. firm to build more than one automobile at a time, as well as the biggest car manufacturer in America.

In May 1896, New York City resident Henry Wells was driving one of the Duryeas when he hit a bicyclist, breaking the rider’s leg. Some sources believe the incident was the nation’s first traffic accident. Wells spent a night in jail as a result of the crash.

However, the brothers separated once again in 1898, a recurring theme in their lives. In the patent for the Duryea Motor Wagon, Charles claimed that he was the machine’s lone inventor, and that Frank was “simply a mechanic.”

He took credit for the Duryea cars for much of his life, though his other motorized productions rarely made money.

Charles, who later served as editor of the Automobile Trade Journal, died in Philadelphia on Sept. 28, 1938. In his obituary, the New York Times lauded his “rare mechanical wit to see how the contributions of his predecessors could be combined into a sound invention.” But the Times added that he was “unable to adapt himself to the public taste.”

Frank, meanwhile, moved on to the Stevens-Duryea Co., which produced the first six-cylinder auto in the U.S. While his brother struggled, Frank became wealthy from auto manufacturing and semi-retired in 1915. He died in Saybrook, Connecticut, on Feb. 15, 1967.

In 1973, Charles Duryea was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, joined by Frank in 1996.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.