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Queen City Forging
A modern company -- with a history that dates back to the late 1800's!
Modern computer systems and state-of-the-art technology represents Queen City Forging Co. today. But beyond all of this modern equipment and processes lies a rich and interesting business history. This business history illustrates for us today how modern American industry has grown up in the past few centuries.
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In the late 1800's, Cincinnati, a riverboat town along the Ohio River, was the center of the buggy and carriage industry west of the Allegheny mountains. |
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Sometime before 1880, James Williams and Oliver Walker started their business -- Williams, Walker & Co. -- to supply the carriage building industry with the hardware needed in the construction of horse drawn vehicles. Best evidence indicates that the two first sold "fifth wheels" and other items that were manufactured by other companies. As the business grew, equipment and personnel were added to allow the enterprise to manufacture as well as distribute products.
During 1881, the business had grown beyond the scope of the original proprietorship. In that year, Williams, Walker & Co. was replaced by a new corporation, The Queen City Forging Co. The record indicates that at the same time, James Williams left the business as only Oliver Walker is shown as an officer of the company in the Cincinnati business directory of 1882. Our best information about James Williams is that his share of the company was purchased by Walter Dinkelman's father, who was reputed to be a very successful salesman in the company. Walter Dinkleman would later share ownership of the company with Bruce Walker, Oliver Walker's son.
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The company name changes to
Queen City Forging Co.
Product cataloges of 1885 (left), 1896, and 1921 give hints of the company's standing and focus during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. That focus was primarily carriage hardware with some attention given to custom drop forging. The 1885 catalog reflects Cincinnati in the boom of the carriage building business. Step pads, axle parts, fifth wheels, and a large assortment of all kinds of hardware were being sold.
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By 1896, the company's prosperity is reflected by the etching on the back cover (above) of the catalog . The factory represented in the picture is not the evidence of the prosperity but the fact that the owners saw fit to have a picture of the factory on the catalog. It is clear from later photographs that the artist worked in the style of the times, inflating the size and the importance of the operation to please the men ordering the picture made.
Eleven years after the catalog of 1885, the basic connecting pieces such as couplings, eyes, clips, and various "irons" have become more prominent in the catalog. All of these were products undoubtedly produced by the company. Also appearing in the 1896 catalog were a series of "top joints", the hardware for fold down fabric "canopy" tops; what we call "convertibles" today. This reflects the increased affluence of the customers of the carriage and buggy builders who were purchasing more vehicles with tops rather than the old style of open wagon.
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This photo was taken from a newspaper clipping and captioned: "Here's the first car ever in these parts, a 1908 Carrico being navigated by Bruce Walker [Oliver Bruce Walker], with his wife as passenger. An inveterate putterer, Mr. Walker has several patents to his name."
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The early twentieth century was the beginning of the automobile industry. At the outset, the "horseless" carriage was exactly that, and some companies in the carriage and buggy business built early models based on the vehicles they already produced. Queen City Forging was no exception. Around 1908, several vehicles were built, named the "Carrico", which mounted an internal combustion engine under the seat of a wagon. It was clear from the start, however, that the company did not have the abilities to continue in this endeavor. The "horseless" carriage, the "Carrico", was basically a toy for the owners.
It is said that the conservative German buggy builders of Cincinnati refused requests from Henry Ford to participate in the production of automobiles. As the automobile industry replaced the carriage industry, the fortunes of Queen City Forging began to change. The center of the transportation industry moved form Cincinnati to Detroit.
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