Studebaker Bros.
Life Span: 1874
Location: Nos. 263 & 265 Wabash, Nos. 151 & 153 Wabash, 233 State
Architect:
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1874
Studebaker Brothers, carriage mnfrs. 263 and 265 Wabash av.
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1876
Studebaker Bros., W. H. Browne, manager, carriages 265 Wabash av.
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1884
Studebaker Bros. Manufacturing Co., W. F. Studebaker, manager, carriages State ne. cor. Jackson
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1885
Studebaker Bros. Manufacturing Co., W. F. Studebaker, manager, carriages State ne. cor. Jackson
Inter Ocean, April 24, 1874
The Finest Carriages,
road wagons, and other pleasure turn-outs, will soon be exhibited at the new carriage repository of the Studebaker Bro.’s Manufacturing Company, No. 265 Wabash avenue. This is a No. 1 institution and the place to find carriages of the best manufacture in the country.
Chicago Tribune, August 28, 1876
STILL THEY COME.
Studebaker Bros. seem to be enjoying an extended and well-deserved popularity with their carriages in this city. We notice the arrival yesterday of another car-load,—the third this week,—and their repository now contains one of the finest and largest assortments in the country.
Inter Ocean, November 11, 1877
STUDEBAKER BROS. MANUFACTURING CO.
repository is located at Nos. 151 and 153 Wabash avenue. It consists of a large four-story and basement building. 40×160, with a front of pressed brick. with sandstone trimmings. It is supplied with two hydraulic elevators, one for passengers, the other for carriages. thus rendering all the floors available and well adapted to the use for which it was intended. They carry a very extensive stock, which consists of coaches. coupes, carriages, top and open buggies. phaetons, road wagons, etc., as well as a general line of their wagon work, all of the very best style and finish. Their factories are located at South Bend. Ind. They employ about 600 men, 200 on carriages and spring, work, and 400 on farm and freight wagons. Their trade extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and wherever their products have been used they have given perfect satisfaction in every particular. None but the most skilled and experienced workmen are employed: consequently their carriages are noted for their extreme lightness, durability. and neatness of construction. Some conception of the magnitude of their business can be had when it is said that the aggregate amount of their sales for the year 1876 amounted to $1,600,000. Studebaker Brothers are highly practical and business men, and have invariably maintained the standard of their work in every particular. Their Chicago department is in charge of polite and agreeable gentlemen, and call “strangers who enter will receive courteous treatment.
Western Rural, May 15, 1880
Chicago Tribune, December 31, 1881
Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company
The great carriage house of the West have fairly won the honors they wear as the largest wagon and carriage builders in the world. They have two immense factories at South Bend, Ind., where they began business forty years ago, in one of which they make 5,000 pleasure vehicles a year, and in the other they turn out 25,000 farm, freight, and spring-wagons annually-more than twice as many as are made by any other establishment! They established their quarters at Chicago seven years ago, and at their repository, 151 and 153 Wabash avenue, may be seen all the latest styles of their work. Their wagons are noted for strength, durability, and easy movement, and their carriages for beauty, elegance, perfect workmanship, and artistic finish.
Chicago Tribune, July 30, 1882
AFFAIRS AT THE STUDEBAKER PALACE REPOSITORY.
The reporter dropping in for a moment at the Palace Repository of the Studebaker Bros. Manufacturing Company at 233 State street, which has attracted so much attention of late, the following conversation ensued with Mr. W. F. Studebaker, the manager:
“Well, Mr. Studebaker, you have a beautiful store and an elegant oflice. The frescoing is very handsome, and the mirrors which line the walls make it wonderfully attractive, multiplying your large stock to the eye until it seems as though you bad acres upon acres of carriages.”
“Yes, the effect is certainly, fine, and we think we have a pretty nice store.”
“How do you like your new location?”
“We like it very much. Notwithstanding the wet seuson our trade has increased 50 per cent.
We don’t attribute this alone, however, to our new store; our stock is larger and finer than ever, and the people are beginning to learn that we are not only manufacturers of wagons, but also builders of every description of carriage.”
“How long have you been making carriages?”
“We have been making carriages some thirty years, and this branch of our manufature, like that of wagon building, has continued to increase until today it has attained mammoth proportions.”
“It is currently reported that you are the largest wagon and carriage builders in the world?”
“Such is undoubtedly true; but we pride ourselves far more the standard quality of our work, which has created this demand for it.”
“Doubtless you make some shipments abroad?”
“Yes; we have a nice trade in several foreign countries, and it is a common thing for us to receive orders from all points of the globe, Within the week we have shipped one carriage to Monte-video, Uruguay, South America; and another to Bankok, Siam, Asia. Our wagons, of course, go everywhere. Dr. Ridgeway mentioning that in his travels he even saw a Studebaker wagon in Palestine, just south of Nazareth.”
Western Rural and American Stockman, July 4, 1885
Studebaker Bros M’f’g Co.
The Chicago premises of this firm are situated at 233 State street and 49, 51 and 53 Jackson street. The building is a substantial stone structure, with stone and iron front and comprises a basement and four stories.
On entering the first floor the visitor is impressed with the business aspect of the scene and the sumptuous elegance of all the appointments, plate mirrors being presented on all sides, while the lofty ceilings are frescoed in a most elegant manner. The remainder of this floor, as also the second and third floors, is devoted to the purposes of show rooms, constituting a display including many of the most superbly appointed vehicles ever placed on exhibition here.
In the manufacturing departments are seen all the most modern appliances for expediting the various processes and producing the most perfect work. By reason of the rapidly extending business the company will erect this Summer, a marble structure on Michigan avenue, containing four acres of floor room for a factory and warerooms, which will be in every respect the finest in the United States, the company’s unlimited capital and long experience being sufficient guarantee of the entire success of the new venture. The building of all kinds of fine carriages and wagons of all descriptions constitutes the company’s business They are in constant communication with all the leading carriage builders of Europe and America, whose designs are received while their own are also retained a fact which insures novelty of construction durability and grace of finish giving to these carriages a preference.
Among the newest and most fashionable carriages for ladies’ and family use this season are the Grand Victoria the Vis-a-vis, the Duo phaeton landaus and cabriolets or gentlemen’s driving the favorite vehicles are the Stanhope phaeton, Spider phaeton, T carts and dog carts: the styles both for ladies and gentlemen’s use varying with as much facility, according to the taste of individuals as even dress. With every carriage supplied, the guarantee adopted by the Carriage Builders’ National Association is given.
Of the wagon department one of the most striking features is the variety of vehicles made including farm, plantation, freight, business, express and spring wagons. The Studebaker wagon is a model of beauty and durability; great strength is ensured while its lightness of draft is remarkable; it has an honest, square stand-up air about it, and can be depended upon during rain or shine, it is fit for any market mill or meeting, and saves half its cost in repair bills. All the wood work is thoroughly saturated with boiling oil which expels the moisture and makes the wood impervious to the elements. The patent truss axle of these wagons makes it worth five dollars more than any other wagons, while the wheels are perfection itself. Made of the best seasoned Indiana timber, the slope shoulder spokes fit into the hub, as though grown to their place, and the Studebaker Patent Bent-edged tire affords a lasting protection to the felloes. In short, all the timber is absolutely sound and perfectly seasoned; the iron is the best that can be purchased and wrought by thoroughly skilled mechanics; the boxes of the wheels are pressed into the hubs by hydraulic pressure and will never loosen, and the spokes are driven into the hubs by a powerful steam spoke driver, making a union of the parts like a weld of iron. The Western Rural has no hesitation in endorsing the Studebaker carriages and wagons. The preparation of the company’s catalogues has received particular and marked attention, and they will be forwarded on application free of charge. Wherever these vehicles have been shown in the broad field of competition they have gained a worldwide reputation, taking first prizes for excellence among many others at the National Fair at Chicago, 1857; the Centennial, 1876; the Inter-National Exposition, Paris, 1878; the Mexican Republic, 1879. The exhibit at the World’s Fair New Orleans met with the most gratifying results. The business was established at South Bend, Ind., in 1852 by John Studebaker who came from Pennsylvania. He commenced with a blacksmith-shop in a log cabin. In 1852 only two wagons were made, while this year there will be 40,000 vehicles turned out. He was the father of four sons, all practical men, thoroughly educated to their business, who supervise the construction of the goods. The wagon works and adjacent buildings cover twenty acres, making, with lumber yards, a total of eighty acres, while the carriage works, half a mile distant is an exceedingly handsome structure. In the whole works 1,500 men are employed, and with many new devices not seen in any other factory, the facilities are the most extensive among similar establishments in the world. The company have repositories at Chicago, Kansas City, St Joseph, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., Denver and Salt Lake City. In the United States alone 500,000 people are now using these wagons, independently of other vehicles made by the company. The executive force of the company consists of C. Studebaker, President; J. M. Studebaker, Vice-President; P E Studebaker, Treasurer, and J. F. Studebaker, Secretary. They are all public spirited men, and have done much for the benefit of their town and State, and they are prominent members of the Carriage Builders’ National Association of which C. Studebaker was first Vice-President. The Chicago branch is under the management of Mr. Wilder H. Pray, who entered on his duties in May last. He had over twenty years’ experience in New York City alone, and was well known as a member of the firms of Wood Bros., and Bradley, Pray & Co., who did so much to introduce the manufacture of fine carriages. His knowledge of the business and his personal worth were magnified by his election to the responsible position of Secretary and Treasurer of the Carriage Builders’ National Association, he being now Chairman of the executive committee. His coming here proves the determination of the company to be among the foremost in fine carriages as well as in wagons. While possessing the courteous manners of a refined gentleman, Mr Pray has that practical common sense which enables him to present the merits of his goods, in which he has implicit confidence before the public in the most effective manner. The operations of the Chicago branch embrace all the territory usually regarded as belonging to this section with individual shipments to all parts of the United States.
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