Coaches first appeared in Europe. References to them are found in writing as far back as the 13th century. The word coach is believed to be derived from a small village in Hungary called Kocs that was especially renowned for its coaches. Anne of Bohemia is said to have brought Kocs carriages with her to England when she married King Richard II of England in 1382. The stage in stagecoach came from the routes they took, traveling from one location to the final destination by stages. Coach inns and other accommodation and lodging might be built along the route, simply because it was a place where the stage coach stopped.
The best known U.S. stagecoach, the Concord, was first built by the Abbot Downing Company in 1827. The company, in Concord, New Hampshire, went on to build 40 kinds of coaches, wagons and carriages. The company disbanded in 1847 and then reappeared in 1865 as the Abbott-Downing company, surviving until 1919. The company's only female employee, Marie F. Putnam, stitched the trim and seats for every stage coach made for 30 years between 1865 and 1895.
Stagecoaches were the first wheeled form of public transit in the United States. Throughout much of the 19th century, stagecoaches carried passengers, mail and sometimes other cargo along elaborate sets of routes, sometimes all the way across the country from the east coast to the west. Once coach lines were replaced by trains, the coaches simply adapted and some took shorter routes. Coach services did not require the elaborate rail lines that trains did and went many places that trains did not.
Stage coach travel was neither fast nor easy. The Omaha Herald said of stagecoach travel in 1877 "Don't imagine for a moment you are going on a picnic. Expect annoyance, discomfort and some hardships. If you are disappointed, thank heaven." The average speed of a stage coach was about 5 mph on good roads. On particularly bad roads, passengers might have to walk and even help push to get the stagecoach up a hill. There was little protection from the elements in a coach, and heat, cold, rain, dust, and insects in the cabin were to be expected, depending on the season and the weather. Even in good weather on good roads, a coach trip might take several weeks and there was little to do on the ride other than look at the scenery.
