In 1895, the two teenaged sons of Henry and Emma Fey were mostly tending to their schoolwork, although they far preferred other amusements. Lincoln, affectionately known as “Link,” was sixteen years old and had already seen his name in the newspaper within a year of coming to Northfield. He was, as the Northfield News wrote with some amusement, “attaining quite a reputation as a taxidermist,” having mounted in his room “a specimen of almost every bird known in these parts,” as well as a handsome pair of ducks in a store display window. Link also spent time observing and befriending the mechanics at work in the Fox and Ferris foundry, a habit that would benefit him later. Frank, three years Link’s junior, was enthusiastic about his brother’s hobbies and probably spent much time hunting and fishing in the Cannon River, a favorite activity of both sons and father.
Life was not entirely easy for the boys, however. Lincoln’s days were marred by asthma, which he believed had been caused by early exposure to the mill dust that his father labored in as head miller of several different mills through the years. Although Link loved being outdoors, it was difficult for him to travel long distances by the horse-drawn vehicles of his time because the road dust that rose beneath his 
horses’ feet provoked his asthma. He began to dream of machines that would independently be able to travel the same dusty roads as the horses. Such daydreams brought him to the doorway of the Fox and Ferris foundry, where he learned lessons that were not being taught at school: how to construct a steam engine, 
how the engine operated, and what all of its parts and functions were called. Link made up his mind to design and build an engine-powered vehicle. He first drafted plans for a steam engine and had already constructed it and much of the vehicle’s carriage (with the help of some of his friends in town and at the foundry) when he saw an advertisement for a gasoline engine in a machinery catalogue. Gasoline engines did not require boilers, thereby reducing the weight of the engine in a vehicle’s carriage, and Link thrilled at the possibilities these engines presented. He quickly sold his finished steam engine and hoped to begin work on a gasoline engine soon, but his aspirations did not go unnoticed or unopposed.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Northfield was a town renowned for its horses. Once locally dubbed “the horse center of the Northwest,” Northfield’s horses were sought by large cities seeking streetcar horses, fire department horses, and construction horses, while over fourteen businesses in town catered to the needs of horse owners, offering handmade harnesses, blacksmith and horse-shoeing shops, and wagon and carriage builders. Two nearby firms imported French Coach horses and Percherons, well-known draft horses of high regard that could be sold to breeders for up to $5,000 per head. An 1889 directory and visitor’s guide for Northfield proudly boasted that these importers added to Rice County’s fame as “the locality where the finest of horses can be bought.” Therefore, many townspeople were displeased by the idea of horseless transportation. Early automobiles were noisy and not unfairly 
perceived by traditionalists to be dangerous, unpredictable, and a menace to the peace. Horses, spooked by the strange contraptions sharing their roads, bolted and damaged property, sometimes causing fatalities when they struck unlucky pedestrians. Lincoln’s own father was fond of horses and disapproved of his son's extracurricular activities, noting that Link’s hobby was not only dangerous, but also diverted time and energy away from his school studies. Link admitted that he “seldom had [his] lessons, being too busy making drawings…and the teacher frequently admonished [him] to stop wasting time and put [the] drawings in the waste basket.”
But young Frank Fey, excited by the project, happily supported his brother through all hardships. Because of Link’s fragile health, he could not work in many of the customary places, so
Frank worked odd jobs, doing yard work, playing in an orchestra, and even lending a hand at the Ames Mill so that Link would have sufficient funds to construct his car. In this way, the teenagers completed their three-wheeled motor vehicle in late 1898, selling it to a New Prague man once Link had convinced Frank that they could build another, superior machine after the sale. Henry Fey did not like this plan, continually warning the boys to “leave anything that used gasoline alone or [they] would be blown up,” but Emma quietly encouraged her sons to pursue their passion. The Fey brothers’ second machine was finished in 1901 and although they were jeered in the streets with shouts of “Get a horse!”, Link and Frank were proud of their horseless carriage and felt that it was better than some of the imports that Link had viewed in St.Paul. They sold it for $170, already formulating plans for their next venture.
They now hoped to construct a four-person automobile, but Link’s asthma intervened and his parents sent him to Colorado in the hope that the change of atmosphere would relieve his symptoms. When he was able to return to Northfield in the summer of 1902, he brought with him new ideas that he had 
gleaned from machine shops and car shows in Denver. After building an improved engine, Link appealed to a nervous Frank to take out a $90 loan from the bank so that they could order a car body from Ohio. Once the car was completed in 1903, the boys kept it for themselves for a few years, enjoying and displaying their creation around town. In 1904 Link was again sent west—this time to Los Angeles—to alleviate his asthma symptoms, maintaining his usual habit of soaking up information on automobiles wherever he could find it, and upon arrival back in Northfield, he was anxious to build another vehicle. Car #4 was, as should be expected, the sophisticated result of the continuous evolution of Link’s knowledge of engines. This car was painted a bright red and was brought to Minneapolis when both brothers obtained jobs in the city.
After this final car, the brothers’ partnership quietly dissolved as they went on to live their separate lives. Their father Henry Fey fell ill in the winter of 1916 and died of Bright’s disease on May 6th. At 
the time of his death, Henry’s sons Lincoln and Frank were ages 37 and 34, respectively. Frank was living in Portland, Oregon, working as a sales manager for the U.S. Steel Corporation. Link had returned to his parents’ home after working a few jobs as a machinist. He finally opened an office in downtown Northfield, where it was rumored that he was designing a fifth automobile; the machine never materialized and no designs are known to survive. Link thought of himself as more of a machinist than an inventor, and retained a strong interest in cars and engines. Employed as a salesman for Hudson and Essex for many years, Link lived with his widowed mother Emma until her death in 1935. He continued to work on machines around Northfield after this and was termed a “freelance mechanical troubleshooter” by his neighbors. When Frank died in Oregon eleven years later, Lincoln was left without any immediate family. He remained in his boyhood home until a month before his death, when he finally moved into the local Odd Fellows Home. Ten years before his passing in 1956, Lincoln Fey had patented a final invention: a device for raising and lowering anchors.
The Feys (with the exception of Frank) are buried in the Northfield Cemetery.
Extra(s), Extra(s)!
Read more about early 20th century asthma treatment methods at this page.
Both Joel Heatwole and Henry Fey died of Bright’s disease (as did Emily Dickinson and a couple of U.S. Presidents’ wives). To learn about this health problem, peruse this article.
