Raymond H. Carr, founder of New Morgan in Berks County and a car enthusiast who owned more than 35 antique vehicles, died in his retirement home in Boca Grande, Fla. He was 90.
Carr was a Chester County industrial park developer, a hotel and restaurant owner, a World War II veteran and global car rally aficionado who twice made the Guinness Book of World Records.
He died Tuesday.
“My father was an entrepreneur, a lover of family, music and antique automobiles,” said Ray C. Carr, 66, of Glenmoore, Chester County, Carr’s oldest son and one of five of Carr’s children. “He was a dreamer and a thinker who came up with ideas to which most of the time people would say you are nuts to do that, but he would do it anyway.”
“I loved the guy like a father,” said Bob Moon, 65, of Mount Penn, who began working for him in 1998 as a mechanic and curator of Carr’s extensive car collection. “He knew so many people around the world and was a man of ideas.”
One of Carr’s biggest dreams involved asking Berks County Court to incorporate a 2,394-acre area in Caernarvon Township and 1,277 acres in Robeson Township into the new borough of New Morgan.
At times, Carr had visions of turning parts of the property into a Victorian village or luring Disney to create a theme park there.
As owner of Morgantown Properties, Carr bought the property in 1987 from Bethlehem Steel, which operated Grace Mine. That was followed by a court decree issued in 1988 creating Berks County’s newest municipality of New Morgan with no more than a dozen residents.
Legal challenges from residents and township officials ensued until the state Supreme Court upheld the incorporation in 1991.
Carr later sold the Berks County land to investors.
“He had great dreams, but they all didn’t come to fruition,” his son said.
Carr developed the successful Pickering Creek Industrial Park in Uwchlan Township, Chester County. He also owned five hotels.
At one time, he owned five restaurants in the Chester County area and St. Peter’s Village in Chester County, an artisan village.
An avid car collector, he earned recognition for participating in antique car relays, including an Around the World in 80 Days Motor Challenge in a 1939 Ford that started and ended in London in 2000. In 1997, he participated in the Beijing-to-Paris Motor Challenge.
He earned a special distinction for driving antique gas, electric and steam vehicles in cross-country marathons.
In 1994, he drove a 1902 gas-powered Northern at a top speed of 25 miles an hour from San Diego, Calif. to Jekyll Island, Ga., carrying Pacific Ocean water and dumping it into the Atlantic. Guinness recognized it as the oldest car to make a cross-country trip.
He drove a 1912 electric Baker from Astoria, Ore. to Atlantic City, N.J, in 1995, landing him in the Guinness book again. In 1996, he drove a 1909 Stanley steam car from Alaska to Maine.
The DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith and Boyd Funeral Home, West Chester, will handle funeral arrangements.
Contact Bruce R. Posten: 610-371-5059 or bposten@readingeagle.com.
