Fostoria Light Car Company - Fostoria, Ohio 1915

Beautifully engraved certificate from the Fostoria Light Car Company issued in 1915. This historic document has an ornate border around it with a vignette of an early Fostoria Motor Car. This item has the signatures of the Company’s President, J.H. Jones and Secretary, Charles Ash and is over 90 years old.






Certificate Vignette




1916 Company Advertisement

The Fosteria Light Car Company was founded by J.H. Jones, a local contractor; Ira Cadwallader, a local industrialist; Charles Ash, a local banker; and A.O. George. During the summer of 1915 the company made four different models of a low-priced four-cylinder assembled car. "The Surprise Car of the Season," according to their advertising.

Initially they were located in the old Seneca Lamp plant, but in December of 1915 they had bought out the Storm Buggy Company and made plans to move there. A total of 293 Fostorias were built by September of 1916 when the company found itself in financial diffuculties. The engines Fostoria had bought from Sterling Motors in Milwaukee had problems.

In order to change their images, Fostoria reorganized in December as the Seneca Motor Car Company for the manufacture of a new car called the Seneca. The Fostoria Seneca Motorcar company (organized in 1917) produced three to five automobiles per day and 80% of their production was exported to places such as Australia, Borneo and China. Seneca Motorcar prospered until Henry Ford developed the assembly line. Seneca couldn’t compete with mass production techniques and manufactured its last car in 1924. The company continued to make replacement parts for years afterwards.