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The Courting Buggy
When a young man took a fancy to a particular lady, he would come to call on her, or "come a courting" . This dating ritual did not change much for several centuries! Courting, which was the time the couple got to know each other, was serious business. Both would dress in their finest attire, and the man always went to the lady's house - where she lived with her parents. Typically,
while in the house, they would be chaperoned! Finally, if the lady could go for a nice buggy drive, a vehicle like this might be used. Nicknamed the "courting buggy", the carriage was very open and visible to all. No hanky panky allowed!
This is a Hercules Buggy, made about 1910. The Hercules Buggy Company was started by Mr. WIlliam H. McCurdy. In 1998, McCurdy worked at the Favorite Buggy Co. in Cincinnati. He then was recruited to be the head of the Brighton
Buggy Company in Chicago, supplying Sears, Roebuck & Co. with buggies of all sorts. When that facility outgrew it space, the Hercules Company was formed in Evansville, Indiana.
While the Hercules Buggies were very popular, by 1923 the demand for buggies had dropped. Hercules began to produce insulated sheet metal housings for refrigerators and ice machines. The Hercules Manufacturing Company still exists, in Henderson Kentucky.