William Sutton and Emil Alexander established the American Car Company, a streetcar manufacturer, in 1891. They previously founded the Laclede Car Company in 1883 in St. Louis and started their careers at the Brownell Car Company, a horsecar manufacturer in St. Louis.
The American Car Company built electric-powered streetcars. In 1902, J.G. Brill Company of Philadelphia bought out American Car Company. However, Brill retained the name American Car Company until it was reorganized as J.G. Brill of Missouri in 1931.
In 1915, American Car created the first Birney-type trolley, the prototype of a new design called the “Safety Car.” The company went on to produce more Birney cars than any other manufacturer. Today, preserved Birney cars constructed by the American Car Company can still be seen running in operations such as the Fort Collins Municipal Railway in Colorado and the Fort Smith Trolley Museum in Arkansas.
In 1931, four months after parent company J. G. Brill stopped using the American Car Company name, the former American Car Company factory in St. Louis closed permanently.
