Information
Sheet
R Springfield Wagon Company.
59 Records,
1873-1972 (bulk 1873-1907).
12 volumes and 50 folders.
MICROFILM
The Springfield Wagon Company was
organized in 1872 by a group of businessmen and merchants in Springfield,
Missouri. Near bankruptcy forced the
reorganization of the company in 1875, at which time Homer F. Fellows, Norris
W. Fellows, and Ezekiel Boyden began managing the firm. The new managers made improvements in the
supply and sales departments, after which the company began to thrive in the
fiercely competitive wagon market.
However, the company was still in debt, and the Fellows brothers and
Boyden became sole owners in late 1875 after a controversial lawsuit.
The “Springfield Wagon” was a durable,
“premium” product. Because of cheaper
freight rates on raw materials and finished products at Springfield, the
company had an advantage over its nearest competitors. Beginning in southwestern Missouri and
northeastern Arkansas, the Springfield Wagon Company expanded its markets to
include Kansas, Indian Territory, and Texas.
Despite stiff competition and a fire that destroyed the factory at
Springfield in 1884, the Springfield Wagon Company was one of the dominant
firms in the wagon trade by 1890. The
company carried on a record business with the U.S. Army during World War I,
and by 1925 it enjoyed a virtual monopoly as the other companies abandoned the
wooden wagon trade. In order to cope
with the steadily decreasing market, the company began to manufacture steel
farm wagons and highway trailers in 1927.
Based on the sales of those products, the company remained solvent
through the Depression. In 1941 the
Phipps Lumber Company of Fayetteville, Arkansas, a long-time supplier of
hardwoods for wagon manufacture, bought the Springfield Wagon Company. Phipps continued to produce the Springfield
Wagon until lack of demand brought an end to production in 1951.
The records of the Springfield Wagon
Company are held by the Museum of the Ozarks, Inc., (now The History Museum for
Springfield-Greene County) at Springfield, Missouri. In addition to various account books and ledgers, the collection
includes forty-eight folders of correspondence received from traveling
agents, dealers, suppliers, and customers.
The correspondence is most useful for determining the parameters of
the company’s trade. It is most
complete for Missouri, Arkansas, and Indian Territory, but a score of other
states also are represented. The correspondence
is arranged by state, location, and date, and a register has been filmed at the
beginning of each folder.
The collection formed the basis of a
master's thesis on the company by Steven L. Stepp in 1972. Stepp’s research correspondence is
especially useful for information about the company after 1900. It has been filmed following the company’s
records.
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