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History of the St Louis Car Company by Andrew Young & Eugene Provenzio Jr w/ DJ
The History of the St Louis Car Company Quality Shops by Andrew Young & Eugene Provenzio Jr
Hard Cover with dust jacket. Reflection from the lights on some photos
Howell North Books 1981 printing
302 pages Indexed
St Louis was not much more than a frontier town when Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1820, and its subsequent growth was largely based on its unique position in the American lumber trade. Rafts of timber from Wisconsin's great forests were floated down the Mississippi to St. Louis, and once there, a variety of factories, yards and shops were waiting to process the wood and distribute it throughout the nation.
By 1845 St. Louis had grown sufficiently to warrant a horse bus service. This in turn led to the provision of a streetcar line in 1859, and from that time on, the convenience offered by reliable urban transit was reflected both in the continued outward growth of the city, and the astonishing proliferation of transit companies catering to that need. By 1875, over 17 companies had franchises to operate horse buses or streetcars within the city. While this tremendous growth in transit facilities was a phenomenon common enough elsewhere, St. Louis had by far the largest number of independent companies competing for business of any city in the nation. Their incessant demands for new and better vehicles, the distance from the established builders in the East, and the increased nationwide demand for ready-made cars, prompted St. Louis capital into the financing of streetcar manufacturers.
In the 19th century wood was the universal car building material, a commodity which St. Louis had in abundance, as well as men skilled in the working of it. Thus it is not surprising that St. Louis had one of the very first street railway car building firms in the country, established in 1858 by Andrew White. While his business was not at first confined wholly to streetcars, by the 1870s his firm was building virtually nothing else, so great was the demand, and by the beginning of 1891, the St. Louis area could boast at least five establishments primarily or exclusively devoted to streetcar manufacture.
The presence of these companies in or near the city led to the location of many other businesses in the area devoted to ancillary supplies for street railways. Firms in this trade included the Heine Boiler Co., the John O'Brien Boiler Works, the Scarritt Seat Co., and the St. Louis Car Wheel Co. Other major firms in the area included street railway parts distributors and contractors such as the Wagner Electric Co. and Arthur S. Partridge Co. Initially the business of these firms had been confined to the Midwest, but later their markets expanded to take in the southern and western regions of the country, and in some cases national distribution was achieved.
With the acquisition of the lucrative eastern market in the 1890s, St. Louis came to dominate the streetcar manufacturing industry of the U.S.A., and maintained that position for many years. The city's natural geographic advantages were the most obvious reasons for this dominance, but its central location as a national distribution center, and the presence of a large immigrant population from South Germany, skilled in foundry and woodworking techniques were other factors which contributed to the city's leadership in the industry.
By 1900 over $5 million was invested in St. Louis streetcar manufacturing companies, over $10 million worth of cars were built, and more than 2500 men were employed, with salaries exceeding $500,000 each year.' Not only did the city supply cars to the domestic market, but there was also a large international trade, with cars being sent to Argentina, Australia, Canada, Cuba, England, France, Germany, Hawaii, Ireland, Mexico, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Africa and Trinidad.
How had all this happened? In the case of St. Louis, there was no completely clear-cut answer, but much of the industry's expansion in the city had to do with the character and personality of one Frederick Brownell.
Brownell had joined Andrew White in the late 1860s as a hired hand, a man of great ability and considerable ambition. By 1875, Brownell was not only in partnership with White, but had managed to change the name of the finn to Brownell and White, a sure indication of where the money and brains of the business now lay. Frederick Brownell was a fine craftsman, but as he got older he became a highly conservative individual who resisted change wherever he could. He was notorious in the trade for refusing to fill orders on the grounds that they were unsuited to his designs, which he was not prepared to modify, being perfectly satisfied as to their excellence and quality. It is to his credit as a builder that so many of his customers were prepared to tolerate this attitude, for his staff certainly couldn't. In his refusal to change his designs to more closely match the needs of the 1880s, and in his unwillingness to delegate any authority within his firm, he was continually in conflict with his staff. More than once these conflicts led to rupture, and in turn these ruptures led to the proliferation of new car building establishments in St. Louis. The Laclede Car Co. was formed in the aftermath of just such a rupture in 1883 by ex-Brownell men, who felt that in neglecting his own opportunities, he was opening up the chance of profit for them, a chance which they readily seized. And the St. Louis Car Co., the subject of this book, was established during 1887 in the wake of yet another of these Brownell conflicts.
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