On February 16, 1852, two brothers named Henry and Clement Studebaker opened a small blacksmith and wagon shop in South Bend, Indiana. With just $68 worth of tools and a lot of work, they started a project that later turned into a major automobile manufacture.
The brothers started by building sturdy metal parts for wagons. As their reputation for quality grew. They were joined by their other brothers, John, Peter, and Jacob, and officially formed the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company. By the time of the American Civil War, they were able to provide thousands of wagons for the Union Army.
Studebaker eventually became the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in the world. Their wagons were essential for families moving west across the United States. As the 20th century approached, the world began to move away from horses. Studebaker was one of the few carriage companies that successfully shifted to making horseless carriages.
Their first vehicles in 1902 weren’t powered by gasoline, but by electricity. They produced 20 electric vehicles that first year, including one purchased by Thomas Edison.
By 1904, the company realized that gasoline engines were the future. They partnered with other manufacturers to build gas-powered cars before taking over the entire production process themselves. By the 1920s, they had fully stopped making wagons to focus entirely on automobiles.
Studebaker became famous for taking risks with design. After World War II, they released cars that looked like nothing else on the road. Models like the Starlight Coupe and the bullet nose cars of the early 1950s. Later, they introduced the Avanti, a high-performance sports car that featured a fiberglass body and advanced safety features like disc brakes.
Despite their long history of innovation, the company faced tough competition from the “Big Three” Detroit automakers, Ford, GM, and Chrysler. Financial struggles eventually forced the company to close its main plant in South Bend in 1963. The very last Studebaker rolled off the assembly line in March 1966.
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