Club adamant to preserve history after Bantam Jeep building fire
BUTLER TWP — The display of artifacts and historical memorabilia kept inside the Butler-built garage on Barracks Road featured a new item for the open house on Sunday, Nov. 16: charred remains of the former Bantam Jeep building.
The Bantam Jeep building, believed to be the birthplace of the Jeep, was destroyed in a fire Sunday, Nov. 2. The building was demolished the following week, but the Butler Old Stone House Region chapter of the Antique Automobile Club of America was able to get a remnant for its collection.
“I found a place where the fire was burning the wood so hot that it was just floating in the air. This is what was left of the wood in that building,” John Pro, with the Butler Old Stone House Region chapter, said.
The remains demonstrated a stark contrast to the wooden floor block that had been removed from the building’s shipping dock in October 2021, which sat on the shelf next to the remains.
“This is what the whole first floor was made of, it was a wooden floor and a lot of your machine shops, workshops and stuff like that had,” Pro said.
The block and charcoal were only two artifacts of dozens on display representing the history of the Butler automobile history. The garage was filled with nine vehicles, all of which were produced in Butler. The garage has open houses the third Sunday of each month.
Out of the vehicles, three were produced by Bantam: a speedster, a panel truck and one of the 75 or so BRC-40 Bantam Jeeps left in the world.
Pro explained that the BRC-40 is under ownership of the City of Butler, but the club has been entrusted to restore and preserve it moving forward. He said its uncommon to see anyone willing to take an original Bantam Jeep outside of storage anymore, but the club does.
“Come here to one of these open houses and he’ll likely be the guy giving rides,” Kevin Soergel, another member of the club, said about Pro. “And also, like Jeep fest and even the Italian Days or whatever they’re doing in town, we’ll try to bring it down.”
In the days after the fire, Pro took the BRC-40 down near the site to talk with onlookers.
“I had the BRC down by the Bantam building — as close as I was able to go — after pretty much they had knocked it down,” he said. “There were some people standing along the wall, and I took a handful of (brochures) up, passed them out and explained a little bit about what this was.”
Pro said even though losing the building is unfortunate, it has only made the club more adamant about its mission.
“We’ve got to work harder, because once history starts to go away, history disappears quick,” he said. “We started doing what you see here this year, but we’ve got to get out and do more.”
While Pro said he has no idea what is next for the property after the demolition, he hopes he and the club can get involved to some degree in memorializing the building and Bantam’s legacy in the region.
He also said the organization is always looking for new members and will be bringing back the Butler-built garage open houses in 2026 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the third Sunday of each month.
More information about the club can be found at www.butlerparegion.org.
