Talk:John Studebaker

John Studebaker (Ashland, Ohio)
John Studebaker, one of the founders of the Studebaker Corporation resided in Ashland, Ohio during 1835-1850. John lived here with his mother, father, and his five siblings. When John was 19 years old he built his own custom wagon and traveled to California to mine for gold. Upon arriving in California, John was offered a job there as a wagon maker, but turned down that job for mining. His first job was building wheelbarrows for the miners at a cost of ten dollars each. John managed to save 8,000 dollars selling wheelbarrows and invested that money into his first company, which built carriages. Studebakers company was the worlds largest producers of horse drawn vehicles. President Lincoln was riding in a Studebaker carriage the night he was assassinated. General Grant, also owned a Studebaker carriage. In 1904 Studebaker began building gasoline-propelled automobiles, in the next seven years they sold more than 2,481 passenger cars and trucks. The Studebaker Corporation operated seven plants. One of his plants was located on U.S. 250 in Ashland, Ohio. In 1954 Studebaker merged with Packard and was unable to withstand his competitors competition. Even though the Studebaker plant is no longer on U.S. 250, a bronze plaque can be found there. The plaque can be found three and a half miles east of the Ashland City limits on U.S. 250.

Cdowiatt (talk) 22:47, 23 September 2013 (UTC)Chris Dowiatt

Reference

Plank, Betty. Historic Ashland County: A Collection of Local History Accounts about People, Places, and Events from 1812-1987. [Ohio]: Endowment Committee of the Ashland County Historical Society, 1987. Print.