by Ramona K. Cecil
If you are over the age of
fifty or are a vintage automobile enthusiast, you may recognize the name
Studebaker. According to my husband, who fits both those descriptions, a
vintage car show would not be complete without several models from the Studebaker
line. But did you know that the Studebaker Company was famous for
transportation long before the automobile?
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Five Studebaker brothers. Left to right standing: Peter and Jacob
Seated: Clem, Henry, and John M. |
It all began in South
Bend, Indiana,
located at the far northwestern part of my home state. In 1850, a young wagon
maker and blacksmith, Clem Studebaker, moves from Ohio
to South Bend, Indiana. The next year his parents and nine
siblings join him there and in 1852 Clem, with his brother Henry, opens the H
& C Blacksmith Shop with only $68.00 to their name. There they build the first Studebaker vehicle; a farm
wagon.
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| Henry Studebaker |
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| Clem Studebaker |
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| Studebaker Blacksmith Shop, South Bend, Indiana |
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| John M. Studebaker |
In 1853 another brother,
John M., catches the gold fever and heads to the California gold fields. There, he is persuaded to abandon his dream of finding riches in the land for making wheelbarrows for the hordes of other gold
prospectors. If you missed Keli Gwyn's post Tuesday about Wheelbarrow Johnny, you must check it out! She tells how John made an indelible mark on Hangtown (later Placerville,) California. His memory is kept alive there through museums and even an annual wheelbarrow race. After five years in California, John M. returns to Indiana with $8,000.00 to
invest in his brothers’ flagging wagon business, including the wagon repository
(dealership) opened by brother Peter a year earlier in nearby Goshen, Indiana. I find the fact that he amassed that kind of money in five years during the 1850s nothing short of amazing!
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Studebaker wagon exhibited in the El Dorado County Museum,
Placerville, California.
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By 1860, H & C
Studebaker boasts a manufacturing shop, paint room, lumber yard, office and
fourteen employees not counting the Studebaker brothers. When the Civil War
breaks out the Studebakers begin to supply the Union Army with wagons and their
business booms. In 1868, the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company is
incorporated in Indiana.
By 1870 another brother, Jacob, joins the company.
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| Civil War Supply Wagons |
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| Civil War Ambulance Wagons |
They sky seems the limit
for the young wagon manufacturing company when disaster strikes. Over the next
four years, two massive fires destroy the South
Bend factory. Undaunted, the brothers rise up each
time from the ashes and rebuild.
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| Studebaker factory South Bend, Indiana |
Studebaker expands its
market to Europe and its wagons win awards at
the Paris Exposition of 1878. Over the next couple decades the company grows,
providing wagons and carriages for the Spanish, American War and Benjamin
Harrison’s White House despite a third factory fire. I can’t help wondering if
anyone ever thought to build a water-pumping wagon to keep on the factory's premises?
Just saying. . . Other U.S. Presidents who rode in Studebaker carriages include Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and William McKinley. The latter two rode in Studebaker carriages to the sites of their assassinations.
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| President Benjamin Harrison's Studebaker Coach |
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| President Lincoln's Studebaker carriage |
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| President Grant's Studebaker Carriage |
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| President McKinley in Studebaker carriage |
By the end of the 19th
Century, the company begins to experiment with powered vehicles. In 1902 they
introduce an electric car and two years later they join with the Garford
Company of
Ohio
to produce a gasoline powered car. In 1910 the Studebaker company purchases
E-M-F, the second largest automobile manufacturer in Detroit, Michigan,
while continuing their manufacture of horse-drawn vehicles as well. By WWI, Studebaker
is providing wagons for Britain,
France, Russia, and the U.S.
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| Thomas Edison in 1903 Studebaker electric car |
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| 1908 electric Studebaker police patrol vehicle |
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| Supply wagons, WWI |
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| 1904 Studebaker-Garford Model C gasoline-powered car |
The iconic Budweiser Beer wagon pulled by a majestic team of Clydesdale horses is a 1903 Studebaker wagon.
In 1915, Studebaker is the
first automotive company to offer wholesale and retail financing.
The company moves
automotive production from Detroit to South Bend in 1919 and
discontinues their horse-drawn vehicle operation the following year.
The next three decades
comprise Studebaker’s automotive “hey-day,” during which, the company introduces
the four-wheel hydraulic brake system, acquires the luxury car manufacturer
Pierce Arrow, introduces a car model named for legendary Notre Dame football
coach, Knute Rockne, and even expands to the West Coast by opening their
Studebaker Pacific Corporation in Los Angels in 1935.
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| Studebaker 1920 touring car |
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| Studebaker 1930 |
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| Studebaker Pierce Arrow 1933 |
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| 1932 Studebaker Rockne |
When war breaks out again
in Europe in 1939, Studebaker begins supplying
the Allies with trucks, airplane engines, and the Weasel personnel carrier. By
1942 and America’s
entrance into WWII, the company suspends all manufacture of civilian
vehicles and devotes their entire capacity to the war effort.
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| Studebaker M29 Weasel |
At war’s end, Studebaker
is the first company to produce a postwar automobile and is the subject of a Life
Magazine ten-page article. One of the most iconic of the Studebaker models was
the bullet-nose Champion of the 1950s. I remember a co-worker of mine in the
mid 1980s who still drove her Champion to work every day and claimed it was the
best car she ever drove. My husband’s favorite was the last of the
Studebaker models, the 1962 sporty Avanti, which he still aspires to one day own. Despite
the Avanti, Studebaker is faltering by the mid 1960s. The South Bend operation closes in 1963, followed by the Hamilton, Ontario
plant three years later.
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| 1950 Studebaker Commander |
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| 1950 Studebaker Truck |
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| 1950 Studebaker Champion |
Over the next couple
decades, through a series of mergers and sell-offs, the Studebaker Automotive
Company ceases to exist. By the late 1980s, all that’s left of Studebaker is
Avanti Motors, which finally shuts down production in 1991. Several attempts to
resurrect Avanti in the U.S.
and Mexico
fail and by 2008 Studebaker as a brand is relegated to history.
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| 1962 Studebaker Avanti |
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| 2007 Studebaker Avanti |
Though Studebaker
automobiles are no longer rolling off assembly lines, Studebaker enthusiasts
can take heart and head to the two Studebaker
Museums in South Bend, Indiana.
In the original building on Chapin Street visitors can peruse three stories of memorabilia from Studebaker’s century and a half history, including seventy historic vehicles.
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Studebaker Museum Chapin Street,
South Bend, Indiana |
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| Old Studebaker National Museum, Main Street, South Bend, IN |
Do you have a Studebaker
in your past? I’d love to hear your story.
Ramona K.
Cecil is a poet and award-winning author of historical fiction for the
Christian market. A proud Hoosier, she often sets her stories in
her home state of Indiana.
