"The Thing"
"The Thing"
Thomas Clegg (1863-1939) and his English-born father, John, built "The Thing," the first recorded self-propelled vehicle in Michigan (and perhaps the country) in 1884-85. The Thing, driven by a single cylinder steam engine with a tubular boiler carried in the rear, seated four. The vehicle was built in the John Clegg & Son machine shop here in Memphis. It ran about 500 miles before Clegg dismantled it and sold the engine to a creamery. The shop was razed in 1936, just a short time before Henry Ford offered to buy it for Greenfield Village.
Registered Site L0824
Erected 1981
Location: Boardman Road at east village limits
Memphis,
Macomb County Topics:TransportationHome Latitude: 42.89654, Longitude: -82.76420