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Kaspar Companies
Kaspar Companies is ...

Kaspar Companies is a manufacturing conglomerate founded in 1898. The

Invention of the Shopping Cart.

History
Kaspar Companies was founded in 1898 when August Kaspar made and sold his first wire basket. In the 1890s, ranchers had discarded their old smooth wire fences in favor of barbed wire. Kaspar used the discarded wire and fashioned for himself a crude looking basket intended to carry hay and corn shucks from the barn to the animal stalls. According to his story, a neighbor saw the basket and bought it for one dollar. With the use of no tools besides a pair of pliers, he weaved large baskets in lots of a dozen or more, and peddled his products from farm to farm selling his baskets for one dollar each. A few of these baskets remain in existence today. In 1930, August Kaspar sold the business to his only child, Arthur Kaspar, who built the main manufacturing facility for Kaspar Wire Works. Through World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and the Korean War, Kaspar Wire Works successfully navigated through difficult economic times by expanding its product line to service the United States military.

In the mid-1970’s, Arthur passed the business to his only son Don Kaspar. Don continued his father’s work and built Kaspar Wire Works into an international corporation. The booming newspaper business had created a need for newspaper racks and dispensers, a business line named “Sho-Rack” which Don worked diligently to develop. Sho-Rack secured the rights to a coin mechanism patent used to dispense newspapers. In the 1980’s, Sho-Rack won the USA Today contract. 90% of all newspaper racks ever produced in North America originated from Sho-Rack’s headquarters in Shiner, TX. The migration from print newspapers to online periodicals has since dramatically reduced the size of the print industry, but Sho-Rack continues to produce and service newspaper racks.

Don Kaspar’s four sons (4th generation) expanded the corporation in 2001 through the acquisition of Ranch Hand Truck Accessories. The Kaspar Companies conglomerate is still family owned and managed. Kaspar Companies operates several independent businesses employing more than 500 employees. The corporation owns 700,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Shiner, TX, and Beeville, TX.

Kaspar Wire Works is one of the oldest continuously operating manufacturing companies in America. In December 2012, the company was awarded the Texas Star award for manufacturing excellence by the state of Texas.

Ranch Hand Truck Accessories manufactures heavy duty Grille Guards, Front End Replacements (Legend Series, Summit Series, Bullnose, and Winch Ready), Back Bumpers, Headache Rack Systems, Bed Rails, Steps, and Toolboxes for Chevrolet, Ford Motor Company, GMC (automobile), Jeep, Dodge, and Toyota trucks and SUVs.