John Mohler Studebaker

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John Mohler Studebaker
John Studebaker at work
Born	1833 Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Died	1917
Occupation	Co-founder and president of the Studebaker Corporation

John Mohler Studebaker (1833-1917) was the American co-founder and later executive of what would become the Studebaker Corporation automobile company. He was the third son of the founding Studebaker family and played a key role in the growth of the company during his years as president, from 1868 until his death in 1917.

[edit] Working career

John Mohler Studebaker was born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1833 to John S. and Rebecca Mohler Studebaker,^[1] and taken to Ashland County, Ohio with his family in 1936. While the two elder brothers became blacksmiths John went to Placerville, California, lured by stories of the gold rush.^[2] After arriving, he realised that much mining employment in California had been taken, and he saw an opportunity for himself by providing for the miners themselves by producing wheelbarrows^[3] and earning himself the nickname of “Wheelbarrow Johnny”.^[4][5] The site of John's business is a now number 142 of California's Historic Landmarks.

John returned to Ohio in 1852, and with his brothers, he incorporated the $8,000 he had made in California with that of his brothers in order to expand the Studebaker Wagon Corporation.^[6] The began to supply wagons for the Union Army in the American Civil War, becoming the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company in 1868, with John as its president.

Thomas Edison on his 1903 Electric Studebaker, the first of the electric automobiles

By 1901, John was the last remaining of the founding family at the age of 68,^[7][8] and after a visit to a motor show in Chicago, he visualised that electric cars (as opposed to gasoline) would be the future of the Studebaker company. In the following year, the company produced 20 vehicles, including one which John owned personally.^[9][10] Despite the fact that by 1908 the production of wagons was still more profitable for the company than the production of cars. John purchased a third of the Everitt Metzger Flanders Company, a forerunner to General Motors and entered into a distribution agreement. John also made a similar agreement with Garford of Elyria, Ohio, creating the Studebaker-Garford brandname. By 1909, Studebaker had made 9.5 million dollars from distributing cars manufactured by other companies,^[11][12] and John purchased the remainder of E.M.F in 1910, thus taking over the company. In 1911 the company became known as the Studebaker Corporation, and began to produce gasoline driven automobiles, however it retained the production of wagons and carriages. The company produced 750,000 of these in its history^[13] with John himself stating:

The Five Studebaker brothers

On the outbreak of World War I, John telegramed United States president Woodrow Wilson to offer the Studemaker facilities as a site for war material production, and the compnay went on to manufacture military vehicles throughout the war.^[16] John was still serving as honorary president when he died in 1917, at aged 83. He was added to the Automotive Hall of Fame

[edit] References