 1897 | |
| Industry | Bicycle manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1889 in Freeport, U.S. |
| Founder | Hon D.C. Stover |
| Defunct | 1899 |
| Successor | Bicycle Trust American Bicycle Company |
| Headquarters | Freeport, U.S. , |
| Products | Bicycles |
| Owner | Hon D.C. Stover |
Stover Bicycle Manufacturing Company was a bicycle manufacturer in Freeport, Illinois founded by D.C. Stover. The company produced 20,000 bicycles a year in 1897.
The company was founded by Stover in 1889, and the first year they produced 320 bicycles (also known as Wheels) and they had 6 employees. [1] D.C. Stover was the owner of the company and several other companies with the moniker Stover. The company produced bicycles under the name Phoenix. They were one of the early manufacturers of the Safety bicycle. [2]
By 1897, the company had become one of the larger bicycle producers and had total production capacity of 20,000 bicycles per year: 120 bicycles a day. [2]
The company manufactured three different bicycles: The Tiger, The Iroquois, and The Paragon. In 1890 they began construction of a larger manufacturing plant in Freeport. [1]
In 1899 the company was sold to a Bicycle Trust which organized under the name American Bicycle Company. [3] The American Bicycle Company only lasted a few years (from 1899-1903). Historians have not determined why the company failed but they have several theories. One idea was that the company was poorly organized, and another theory is that the various manufacturers involved in the company had different objectives. After the breakup the many different companies went back to competing. [4]
Albert Augustus Pope was a Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in the Union Army. He was an importer, promoter, and manufacturer of bicycles, and a manufacturer of automobiles.
Thomas Buckland Jeffery was a British emigrant to the United states who co-founded the Gormully & Jeffery company which made the Rambler bicycle. He invented the "clincher" rim which was widely used to fit tires to bicycles and early automobiles, and in 1900 established the Thomas B. Jeffery Company to make automobiles, again using Rambler branding.
Pope Manufacturing Company was founded by Albert Augustus Pope around 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, US and incorporated in Hartford, Connecticut in 1877. Manufacturing of bicycles began in 1878 in Hartford at the Weed Sewing Machine Company factory. Pope manufactured bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles. From 1905 to 1913, Pope gradually consolidated manufacturing to the Westfield Mass plant. The main offices remained in Hartford. It ceased automobile production in 1915 and ceased motorcycle production in 1918. The company subsequently underwent a variety of changes in form, name and product lines through the intervening years. To this day, bicycles continue to be sold under the Columbia brand.
Dick, Kerr and Company was a locomotive and tramcar manufacturer based in Kilmarnock, Scotland and Preston, England.
Alexander Winton was a Scottish-American bicycle, automobile, and diesel engine designer and inventor, as well as a businessman and racecar driver. Winton founded the Winton Motor Carriage Company in 1897 in Cleveland, Ohio, making the city an important hub of early automotive manufacturing. His pioneering achievements in the automotive industry included taking one of the first long-distance journeys in America by car and developing one of the first commercial diesel engines. Winton left the automotive manufacturing business when he liquidated his car company in 1924 to focus on his powertrain engineering firm, Winton Gas Engine & Mfg. Co., which he had established twelve years earlier to focus on engine development. This business was sold to General Motors in 1930 and became the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division. Winton died in 1932 and is interred in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.
American Bicycle Company (1899-1903) was an American bicycle company (Trust) led by Albert Augustus Pope. The company was formed to consolidate the manufacturers of bicycles and bicycle parts. In the 1890s the advancements in bicycle design led to unprecedented demand for the new Safety bicycles. The "American Bicycle Company" trust only lasted for three years.
Rex, Rex Motorcycles, Rex-Acme, was a car and motorcycle company which began in Birmingham, England in 1900. Rex soon merged with a Coventry maker of bicycles and cars named Allard and then later in 1922 the company merged with Coventry's 'Acme' motorcycle company forming 'Rex Acme'. The company existed until 1933, and, in its heyday, was considered one of the greatest names in the British motorcycle industry.
William Ernest Metzger was an automotive pioneer and salesman from Detroit. He opened one of the first automobile dealerships in the United States, and participated in the early development of a number of early automobile companies, including the Cadillac Automobile Company and the E-M-F Company, in which the "M" stands for his name.
Cycling in Syracuse, New York, has been common on the roads and paths for recreation, commuting, and as a sport since the latter part of the 19th century.
Overman Wheel Company was an early bicycle manufacturing company in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts from 1882 to 1900. It was known for bicycles of higher quality and lower weight than other bicycles of its time. Despite a nationwide bicycle craze in the late 1800s, the company was undercut by lower-priced competition, nearly went bankrupt in 1897, and never recovered from an 1899 fire. The company was sold in 1900.
Western Wheel Works was a Chicago bicycle company started by Adolph Schoeninger in 1866. It was one of the largest bicycle makers in the world. In 1899 it joined a trust which controlled 95 percent of the bicycle manufacturing market.
Adolph Schoeninger was a German-born American businessman. He was born in Schwaben, Germany, and moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was an industrialist who owned Western Wheel Works in Chicago, Illinois. His company became one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the world.
Indiana Bicycle Company was a bicycle and automobile company in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The company made carriages, bicycles and electric vehicles under the name Waverley Cycles. By 1896 the company was producing 350 bicycles every ten hours.
Monarch Cycle Manufacturing Company 1892-1899 was a bicycle manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. By 1896 the company became one of the largest manufacturers of bicycles in the world.
John William Kiser was a 19th-century industrialist who owned the Monarch Cycle Manufacturing Company in Chicago, Illinois. His company became one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the world.
D.C. Stover was a 19th-century industrialist who was known for founding the Stover Wind Engine Company, the Stover Manufacturing and Engine Company, the Stover Bicycle Manufacturing Company and the Stover Engine Works. He was considered to be one of the wealthiest man in Freeport Illinois.
Stover Engine Works was a manufacturer of stationary gasoline engines based in Freeport, Illinois. The company was started by D.C. Stover in 1898.
Indianapolis Chain and Stamping Company also known as Diamond is a company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. At one time they supplied bicycle chains for the majority of bicycles produced in the United States.
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