Coachbult.com - O. Armleder & Co



O. Armleder & Co - 1876-1922 (1935) - Cincinnati, Ohio

O. Armleder & Co, Carriage and Wagon M’frs - I'd never heard of the company until now, but I found some interesting sources on the 'Net that mention the company. An online copy of the 1889 Cincinnati phone book shows that the O. Armleder & Co, Carriage and Wagon M’frs, was already in existence back in 1889. A 1999 Cincinnati Enquirer article states that the Armleder carriage company became the Armleder Motor Truck Co. in 1912, and also states that the company was sold in 1922. A webpage about Schacht trucks states that the Schacht company bought Armleder in 1935, and also states that "very little is known about the Armleder company. I couldn't find any specific mention of Armleder hearses.

A son of German immigrants, Otto Armleder (1862-1935) founded a business that made horse-drawn carriages. In 1912 the carriage company became the Armleder Motor Truck Co., based in Over-the-Rhine. It was sold in 1922. Since Mr. Armleder's death in 1935, the trust has grown into a $27 million fund, which has distributed millions to charitable and civic projects since the 1930s.

catalog #34 in 1910

In 1935, Schacht acquired rival truck manufacturer Armleder, also of Cincinnati. Armleder translates lierally from German as "strong leather," so in English this would be the Rawhide Truck Company.

Born in Cincinnati in 1862, son of German immigrants, Otto Armleder started as a wagon maker, founding the Otto Armleder Carriage Company of Cincinnati. He started making gasline-powered trucks in 1912. The O. Armleder Company (later Armleder Motor Truck Company) truck factory was at 12th and Plum streets in Cincinnati.

When Otto Armleder died in 1935, his family sold the truck company to Schacht. His will he stipulated that his wealth benefit Catholic and non-secterian institutions in Hamilton County, with particular attention to children in the Over-the-Rhine section of Cincinnati where he grew up. So his family also set up the Otto Armleder Trust Fund in 1935, which has since donated many public buildings and parks to the city.

Very little is known about the Armleder company and its trucks, but the photo below shows a 1920 Armleder truck.

xxx

As a manufacturer Otto Armleder, of Cincinnati, years ago gained an established reputation and wagons from his factory are in active demand in every part of the United States and many foreign countries. The large business of which he is the head has been developed through his ability and energy and is a worthy tribute to well directed effort. He comes of Teutonic ancestry on both sides of the house and is a native of Cincinnati, born October 15, 1862. His father, John Armleder, was born in Germany in 1827 and came to America in the early part of the ‘50s. He died in 1872. During the war he was a member of the Home Protectors in Kentucky. The mother, Maria Geiser before her marriage, was born in Germany in 1830, and died in October 1894.

Otto Armleder received his early education in Dayton, Ohio and at St. Xavier College, later graduating at the Queen City Commercial College. After leaving the commercial college he began learning the flour milling business, in which he continued for six months. He then went into the beer bottling business on his own account, although only seventeen years of age, as the Cincinnati Beer Bottling Company. The venture proved successful but the field was not wide enough for an ambitious young man and at the age of twenty he embarked in the wagon-making business on the south side of Longworth Street, the title of the firm being Armleder & Company. He employed twenty men and applied himself with such ability that it became necessary to secure larger quarters and he moved to a six story building on the north side of the same street, to which he later added two more stories. He also opened a factory on Hunt Street and maintained a mill at Carr and Seventh Streets. In 1904 he moved to the site which he now occupies at Twelfth and Plum Streets and consolidated the various branches of the business at that point. The plant covers an area of one hundred and twenty-five thousand square feet and the company now employees two hundred and sixty persons, its name being favorably known throughout every part of the United States. Heretofore Mr. Armleder confined his business to the manufacture of wagons exclusively but he is now beginning the manufacture of commercial automobiles, for which he sees an increasing demand.

On the 19th of November 1889, Mr. Armleder was married at Cincinnati, to Miss. Katherine Manss, a daughter of Henry and Helen (Fitzgerald) Manss, both of whom are now deceased. In politics Mr. Armleder votes independently, as he prefers to support the man rather than to give his adherence to any political organization. He is a Scottish Rite Mason of the thirty-second degree and a Shriner, being also a life member of the Elks. Socially he is well known. He takes an active interest in club life and is a member of the Business Men’s Club and the Queen City, Avondale Golf, Cuvier Press, Pen and Pencil and Laughery Clubs. He is a man of pleasing address and his genial nature has attracted many friends, who place in him their complete confidence. He may truly be designated as one of the substantial, representative citizens of Cincinnati. For many years he has been active in every movement for the advancement of Cincinnati’s interests and was president of the fall festivals of 1903 and 1906, both of which were artistic and financial successes.

Cincinnati, The Queen City, Volume III, 1912 pp 204-205

xxxx

Otto Armleder was a 19th century and early-20th century businessman and philanthropist who was raised in Over-the-Rhine by parents who were German immigrants. Born in the Queen City in 1862, he founded the Otto Armleder Carriage Company which later became the Armleder Motor Truck Company at 12th and Plum streets.

Armleder died in 1935 and in his will he stipulated that his wealth benefit Catholic and non-secterain institutions in Hamilton County with particular attention to children in Over-the-Rhine where he grew up.

His wish, however, was not specifically intended to benefit low-income chidren, because the people of the neighborhood at the time were not low income.

''As a long-time resident of the Over-the-Rhine area, one of Mr. Armleder's wishes was to provide for educational opportunities in the downtown area. With the help of Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy this will become a reality,'' said Robert L. Hoverson, president and chief operating officer of Provident Bank.

The bank manages the Otto Armleder Trust and chooses its charitable beneficiaries.

For more information please read:

G.N. Georgano & G. Marshall Naul - The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles

Albert Mroz - Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks & Commercial Vehicles

Denis Miller - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trucks and Buses

Tad Burness - American Truck Spotter's Guide, 1920-1970

Tad Burness - American Truck & Bus Spotter's Guide, 1920-1985

Robert M Roll - American trucking: A seventy-five year odyssey

David Jacobs - American Trucks: A photographic essay of American Trucks and Trucking

David Jacobs - American Trucks: More Colour Photographs of Truck & Trucking

John Gunnell - American Work Trucks: A Pictorial History of Commercial Trucks 1900-1994

George W. Green - Special-Use Vehicles: An Illustrated History of Unconventional Cars and Trucks