Coachbult.com - Espenshied Wagon Co.



L. Espenschied Wagon Co . 1843-1880 - Arensmann-Luedinghaus Wagon Mfg Co. 1860s-1880 - Luedinghaus & Espenschied Wagon Co. - 1880-1930s - St Louis, Missouri

Louis and Henry Espenschied of 148 Broadway, St Louis, Missouri were German natives who first opened a St Louis blacksmith shop in 1843. They soon expanded to wagons and by the 1850s were making large numbers for pioneers heading west.

Henry passed away in the early 1850s, but Louis continued, renaming the firm the L. Espenschied Wagon Co. Mormon records indicate that for the great migration of 1853, the settlers purchased fourteen wagons for $58 apiece from Louis Espenschied in St Louis for their westward trek to the great Salt Lake. During the civil war Espenschied received a large contract for wagons and wheels for the Union Army.

Hanna F. Arensmann married a young carriagemaker named John Henry Luedinghaus on May 9, 1858 in St. Louis. Money was given to young John Henry from his in-laws to form the Arensmann-Luedinghaus Wagon Manufacturing Co. soon after.

By the 1870s both firms were specializing in heavy commercial and farm wagons and they decided to join forces in 1880 as the Luedinghaus & Espenschied Wagon Co.

Louis Espenschied died in 1887, but his sons and Luedinghaus kept the business going, which survived into the 1930s making heavy wagons, trailers, commercial bodies and motor trucks (Luedinghaus Truck of the 1920s).

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Feb. 25, 1922: The (St. Louis) Globe reported that St. Louis-built autos were the hit of the 1922 auto show here. The "Dorris," "Moon," "Gardner," St. Louis" and "Stanwood" were all built in St. Louis. Trucks manufactured here included the "Eagle," Luedinghaus," "Power" and the "Traffic."

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Espenscheid, Frederick

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St. Louis County's first market house was built there in 1862 by Walter Espenschied of the wagon making family, at what is now 8200 North Broadway.

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The Mormons purchased fourteen wagons for $58 apiece from Louis Espenschied in St Louis for their westward trek in the great migration of 1853.

he was working for a man or company known as Louis Espenschied

1863 Ad in St Louis paper

L. ESPENSCHIED'S WAGON FACTORY,
No. 582 Broadway, Between Brooklyn and Hempstead Streets (opposite the Mound)
North St. Louis, Mo.

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When I was a lad of 12, and had led in north St. Louis, at Baden, a happy life of rod and gun, my dear father failed financially and lost the home on the hilltop there. My mother then removed to her folks in Brooklyn, N.Y. pending father's getting on his feet again... (Excerpt from the account donated to the St. Louis Library by L. Espenschied.)

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

Daniel D. Hutchins - Wheels Across America: Carriage Art & Craftsmanship