When a small but enthusiastic group of Uticans, all owners of the then-new "horseless carriages," gathered together in 1898 to form a socially oriented motoring club, little did they envision that their early efforts would, at a later date, contribute so substantially to the founding and growth of the world's largest and most effective motoring organization, the American Automobile Association.

Naming their group the Automobile Club of Utica, they sought, and obtained, their corporate charter in 1901. Elected to the club's presidency that same year was Charles S. Mott, a local industrialist and owner of Weston-Mott Wheel Works. Invited to Chicago in 1902, Mott joined with the representatives of eight other regional motoring associations in a meeting following which the now universally recognized American Automobile Association (AAA), was founded.

In the years between 1909 and 1943, the local club established its headquarters at the Hotel Martin. Under the able management of Edward O'Mally, the club joined with the Automobile Club of Central New York in 1924, thereby expanding its area of services to include the already-growing number of motorists residing within the greater Mohawk Valley.

In the early 1900s, Oneida County was on its way to becoming a giant in the burgeoning automobile industry. Company owners, however, received little encouragement from area leaders in the textile industry who were wary of competition from automakers because they paid workers more than knitting mills did.

Charles S. Mott, who manufactured bicycle wheels and rims in Utica from 1900 - 1905, later began to make wheels and axles for "horseless carriages" and produced the Remington automobile. In 1901, the Remington Automobile and Motor Company moved into a 3-story building on First Street in Utica and began to make the Remington automobile. Subsequently Mott moved his company to Michigan and sold it to a young company called General Motors in exchange for stock. He continued to reinvest the stock and soon owned the largest number of shares in the firm and became its richest stockholder. He was a billionare when he died in 1973 at age 97.

Also in 1901,, W.H. Birdsall designed the Buckmobile and A. Vedder Brower and a group organized a company to manufacture the 2-cylinder car. The factory was at John and Catherine streets and later moved to Shepherd Place

Both the Remington and the Buckmobile did not last long, but one Utica company in the automobile business did. Edward A. Willoughby was a carriage-maker in Rome. When fire destroyed his factory, he moved to Utica and purchased the old Utica Carriage Company. Soon, the company was making bodies for automobiles. The Willoughby Company remained in business until 1936. It built bodies for Packard, Cadillac, Rolls Royce and Lincoln.

Francis P. Miller and Harry Mundy established Utica's first automobile dealership, the Miller-Mundy Motor Carriage Company, in 1901. They began by selling White Steamers and Pierce-Stanhopes and later added other makes.

In 1906, the Utica Motor Car Company was locted on Bleecker Street, across from Chancellor Park. Tony Ledermann, one of the top mechanics in the area and the man in charge of Utica Motor Car Company's repair department, later opened a Pierce-Arrow dealership at Plant and Hart streets in Utica.