rather than compete head on with the major Detroit industry. In 1920, he changed the name of his company to Greenfield Bus Body Company. He built bodies for trucks and buses set upon a chassis made by other manufacturers. The Great Depression had a devastating effect on his company, as widespread financial problems caused his customers to cut back on bus orders. Patterson died in 1932. His son, Postell Patterson (1906–1981), who had worked with him, closed the business in 1939. No Patterson-Greenfield autos are known to exist (as of 2004), but some of his father's C.R. Patterson & Sons Company carriages have survived. Patterson is featured on the documentary series Profiles of African-American Success. Personal life Family Patterson married in 1899, later fathering sons Frederick Postell Patterson (1903–1973) and Postell Patterson (1906–1981). Politics and religion Patterson was a Methodist. At a time of a rise in fraternal organizations, he joined the Freemasons, where he rose to the level of Worshipful Master of the Greenfield Cedar Grove Masonic Lodge#17. Patterson also joined the Third Wind Foraker club. He became 2nd vice-president of the National Negro Business League during Booker T. Washington's term as leader. Patterson joined the Republican Party and served as a Greenfield's annual delegate to the Ohio Republican Party caucus. As a delegate and an African-American businessman, he was important to the Warren G. Harding 1920 campaign in turning out the Ohio black vote. For his work in the 1920 election, he was rewarded with a position as alternate delegate to the 1924 Republican National Convention. References External links 1871 births 1932 deaths People from Greenfield, Ohio African-American schoolteachers Schoolteachers from Kentucky African-American businesspeople American founders of automobile manufacturers American chief executives in the automobile industry American automotive pioneers 20th-century African-American people