The Challenger
Springfield Wagons: Past, Present and Future
By Dan R. Manning
The Springfield Wagon Company could be called the company that didn't blink. Through nearly 80 years of business, it took on many bigger companies head on, challenging them on their own terms. Now, the Springfield Wagon Company could be called the company that wouldn't die.
About 200 people recently gathered at Founder's Park in Springfield, Mo. to attend a public forum in order to share their common interest in an early-day vehicle. They collected memorablia, one-of-a-kind photographs, and videotaped interviews. They also celebrated the return of a company that closed fifty years ago.
The original Springfield Wagon Company, which operated near the scene of the collectors' meet, sold many thousands of wagons from 1872 until 1941, when the factory relocated to Fayetteville, Ark. "Farm and road" type wagons were made there near the Ozark hardwood forests until 1951. The wagon was one of the last high-wheeled vehicles in production.
When Springfield entered the market for wagons, it was a little fish in a big pond. Three major wagon manufacturers looked down their proverbial noses at the fledgling company. Studebaker had one of the longest pedigrees and was probably the most successful wagon at the time, followed closely by the Bain and Schuttler wagon companies. These companies were not alone. Birch, Wilson, John Deere and others had begun to establish footholds in the market.
When it went out of business in 1951, though, Springfield was the largest (and practically the last) producer of wagons in the country. Studebaker made the transition early to producing "gas buggies" and put Old Dobbin out to pasture. John Deere and International had bought up several patents to stay in the "road and farm" wagon market until the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Bain and Peter Schuttler companies were absorbed into the Springfield firm, which continued to place the former maker's brand names on sideboards to appease loyal farmers.
The road the company took was not an easy one. In fact, it can be said that the company probably would have folded several times under the guidance of any man other than Col. Homer Franklin Fellows.
By the time he took over the Springfield Manufacturing Company, H.F. Fellows had already proven himself a good businessman and a hard nut to crack. He had served in the Civil War and would carry the title of colonel with him to his grave. He raised three daughters on his own for three years, following the death of his wife. During that time, he built Springfield's first grain elevator and began building a few custom-made implements.
From the beginning, Springfield needed help. In its first three years, production delays and national stock market woes threatened to kill Springfield's hopes. Homer and his friend Robert McElhany stepped in and took over the factory by assuming its debts and management. The company closed down for ten days and, after re-opening, began to slowly build toward financial strength.
It was successful, in part, because of the addition of Capt. Ezekiel Boyden, a longtime wagon manufacturer and blacksmith, who just happened to be the father of Homer's new bride, his second wife, Minnie L. Boyden. Ezekiel was not only a master builder, but also frugal builder. His cost cutting - by forcing suppliers to supply better quality materials and then, in a blacksmith shop the owners had added, building many of their parts themselves - increased the company's efficiency many times over.