There being more people and, therefore, more money in the cities, it is natural that the first effects of the automobile should be felt there. In 1899, the Akron police threw away their horse-drawn paddy wagons and replaced them with motorized versions. In the same year, an enterprising citizen in Boston opened "a stable for renting, sale, storage, and repair of motor vehicles" - the country's first garage. Curbs along the city streets began to furnish hand-cranked gasoline pumps, bringing an end to the dangerous practice of open containers in hardware stores, and the nation's first regular service station opened in Pittsburgh in 1913, an all night drive-in that began slowly but soon picked up a lot of business.
The first automobile showroom opened in New York City in 1900 and these were soon found in all city centers all over the country. The used car lot followed shortly after for those who would surrender the class and gloss of a new car for a much smaller price.
It had been the custom for companies to display their goods on the cash-on-the-barrelhead basis, unless it was a major purchase, such as a piano, which could be bought on an installment plan. In 1911, the Studebaker Company offered automobiles on a deferred payment plan. This was soon followed (in some cases, reluctantly) by other car companies. In less than ten years, 50% of all cars sold in America were bought on time payments. Other businesses, seeing the powerful draw this had on consumers, also started selling their merchandise on the installment plan (what the Britishers term "the never-never"), putting almost all of America "on the books."
Cities now had to face the problem of traffic and traffic jams, as more and more people became car owners. Traffic policemen were soon organized, and in 1914, Cleveland installed the first traffic light, and soon there became a need for traffic management. There is always someone standing in the wings, waiting to find a way to make a buck. As the load of traffic became heavier and parking space limited, parking garages were built to care for the overflow; then the unadorned parking lot was installed. In 1935, city officials discovered that there was money to be made in this, and came up with parking meters.
The Great Depression of 1929 gave the nation a thorough understanding of just how important the automobile had become. People began to realize that cars were not just a convenience that would take them from here to there a little faster: they were a fixation, part of the body and soul of everyday life. No matter how poor and needy those in the depression became, they would not give up their cars. If forced to choose between gasoline and beans, the average man may decide the gasoline was more important. Replacement parts were scavenged and repairs were improvised from whatever could be found. Will Rogers said that Americans would be the first people to go to the poor house in an automobile.
In 1924, an innkeeper in California put up a flashing sign that was to spread across the nation. He combined hotel and motor to coin the word, "motel." At the same time, in Florida, businesses began to bow to the motorists needs by establishing curb service dining with bell hops, so that the driver would not even need to leave his car. They coined the word, "drive-in." The government (always the last to act) installed curbside mailboxes, equipped with chutes angled out to receive letters. These were first put up in Houston in 1927. In Camden, New Jersey, on June 6, 1933, the first drive-in movie was shown in a field large enough to hold 500 cars on a 40 x 50 foot screen. At their peak, there were more than 4,000 drive-in movies across America.
Thanks to drive-ins, we now have the privilege of sitting in our cars to do everything. We can draw money from the bank account, have our prescriptions filled, pay utility bills, have clothes cleaned, have film developed, return library books, or buy a bottle of wine. Dallas has a drive-through pawn shop, where you can sell whatever is worth anything to drive straight to the gas station and fill up. There are some drive-through supermarkets. In some cities, church-goers can pick up their drive-through breakfasts and continue down the road to attend drive-in worship services. There are at least two cities that furnish drive-through funeral parlors. The automobile has become an inbred necessity to life in America, thanks to Henry Ford's assembly lines and his "universal automobile."