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Oldsmar ambitions a dud for founderBy KYLE PARKS © St. Petersburg Times, published December 13, 2000 OLDSMAR -- Ransom Eli Olds, the man who started the Oldsmobile car company, also founded this town at the top of Tampa Bay. But Oldsmar doesn't do much to celebrate the connection, perhaps because Olds' legacy in Florida has more than its share of blemishes. Olds bought about 37,000 acres of land in what would become Oldsmar in 1913. His dream was to turn it into a bustling farm and industrial community. It was not to be. Olds convinced several employers to come to town, but instead of his hoped-for population of 100,000, there were just 200 people there when he sold off his properties by 1935, losing about $3-million in the process. "He was a few decades too early," said Jerry Beverland, a former Oldsmar mayor who has researched the city's history. "He never lived here. The whole thing was a business venture, and he was first and foremost a businessman." Olds' reverses were partly bad timing, partly bad decisions. He sold the Oldsmobile brand, only to watch it become a staple of the General Motors family. And in Oldsmar, his tractor factory struggled to win customers. "His tractors had one big problem," Beverland said. "They didn't have a reverse gear. That may have worked up North, but not around Florida palmettos. "If someone bought one of his tractors, they'd have to also have a mule to pull the thing backward." Olds' dreams crashed when a bridge across Tampa Bay took travelers on a different route between Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, and when a destructive hurricane hit in 1921. Olds knew how to make a deal, though. He persuaded the family of former mayor Charles H. "Bud" Lister to operate a conveyor-belt factory in Oldsmar, Beverland said. Olds financed the deal but with a key caveat: He got the Lister family's valuable Lake Kissimmee land as collateral. So when the factory closed, Olds compensated for some of his losses by taking the land. Development in Oldsmar didn't pick up for decades, but enterprising businessmen still tried to get visitors interested. The area's growth finally reached the city in the 1980s, and now it has a population of about 10,000. But there are few reminders of Olds' legacy. There's a small marker in a city park, and an Oldsmobile collectors' club has made appearances with its cars during the city's Oldsmar Day festivities. When Beverland was mayor, he and other city leaders called General Motors, trying to help the town get its name and history out to the world. "They had never even heard of the Oldsmar connection," he said. "We did get some people to visit, but suffice it to say they weren't impressed." -- Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report, which includes information from Times staff writer Ed Quioco. Oldsmobile moments in history1897: Ransom E. Olds incorporates the Olds Motor Vehicle Co. in Lansing, Mich. 1899: The company is reorganized into the Olds Motor Works. 1901: Olds is first to use assembly line with production of 425 Curved Dash Runabouts. 1908: Olds merges with General Motors. 1915: First V-8 Olds appears. 1926: Olds is first to use chrome-plated trim. 1939: OMW introduces first automatic transmission on mass basis. 1942: OMW changes name to Oldsmobile Division of GM. 1949: Oldsmobile 88 series debuts. 1950: Ransom E. Olds dies Aug. 26. 1964: The Oldsmobile 442 debuts -- with four-on-the-floor transmission, four-barrel carburetor and dual exhausts. 1973: Air cushion restraints, later known as air bags, offered on Toro- nado.1985: Oldsmobile becomes part of Buick-Olds-Cadillac (BOC) GM division 1989: Antilock brakes become option for first time on Cutlass Supreme. 1995: Oldsmobile introduces on-board navigation system called Guidestar. -- Source: Michigan History magazine
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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