Original Autocrat Coffee Delivery Truck, Image courtesy Autocrat, LLC
“A Swallow Will Tell You” is the motto of Autocrat Coffee Syrup, a home-grown Rhode Island favorite along with Del’s and Saugys. The origins of the company can be traced back to Seth H. Brownell and Frank O. Field of the Brownell & Field Co. grocers, of Providence. In 1895 the company created Autocrat Coffee, which continues to operate in Lincoln, RI.
Seth H. Brownell (1849-1892) was a descendant of early Portsmouth settler Thomas Brownell and was married to Harriett Fisher Smith, the daughter of real estate agent and developer Alfred Smith of Newport. She continued to run the company after Seth’s death and had a role in the development of waterfront summer cottages along Indian Avenue in Middletown.
Autocrat Building at 119 Harris Avenue Providence, RI (early 1950s), Image courtesy Autocrat, LLC