The Oneida Manufacturing Co. (unrelated to the Green Bay, Wisconsin firm of the same name) was founded in 1888 by the sons of Adam Schubert, a German blacksmith born in Heidelberg, Baden, Germany in 1822. Schubert emigrated to the United States sometime prior to 1850 establishing a residence in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.

On July 2, 1852, Schubert married Margaret A. Krenkle (b.1828-d.1901), another Brooklyn resident who was born on May 25, 1828 in Darmstadt, Starkenburg, Hessen, Germany. The newlyweds decided to relocate to West Leyden, Lewis County, New York, just north of the booming Oneida County canal town of Rome, New York.

After establishing their own wagon works and blacksmith shop in West Leyden, Adam and Margaret’s union was blessed with the birth of 6 children; George (b.1855), Amelia J, (b.1855), William F. (b.1859), Adam Jr.(b.1861), Eugene (b.1862) and August (b.1864).

In 1867 Adam Schubert passed away unexpectedly and as was the custom at that time, the family was taken in by his older brother Peter who was working as a blacksmith at Stringer, Barr & Co., a small agricultural implement manufacturer located just south of Oneida, at Munnsville, Madison Co., New York.

As Peter was unmarried, it was not unusual for an unmarried sibling to marry the spouse of a deceased brother or sister, so on July 2, 1869 he married his brother’s widow, Margaret, at Maple Grove Farm in Munnsville, New York.

Oneida Creek provided power for many early mills which sprang up in the Stockbridge Valley and the Munnsville Plow Company and its predecessors were the largest and best known firms to take advantage of the abundant power made available by the flowing waterway.

The firm that would eventually become the Munnsville Plow Co. dates to 1824 when a saw mill was built on the site of the Plow Company's works by Jairus Rankin and Robert Barr. The mill was subsequently owned by William H. Chandler who built an edge tool factory and manufactured scythes. Axes were soon added to the firm’s products and sometime between 1840 and 1850 the business passed to Daniel Holmes.

In 1853 William Stringer, Solomon Van Brocklin and R. S. Barr acquired an interest in the firm which was reorganized as Holmes, Stringer & Co. It was under their leadership that the manufacture of agricultural implements began in earnest. By 1861 both Holmes and Van Brocklin had sold their share in the firm to their partners and it was reorganized as Stringer & Barr.

In 1866 William H. Stringer, son of William, became a partner and the style was changed to Stringer, Barr & Co. By this time the firm manufactured a complete line of plows, cultivators, hop and fruit evaporating stoves, and other small farm implements.

Upon the deaths of the William Stringer Sr. and R.S. Barr, their two-thirds of the property was bought by C. W. Dexter and Lewis Coe, and the firm was reorganized once more as Stringer, Dexter & Coe. By this time Charles Stringer, another son of William Stringer Sr.’s had also become associated with the firm.

In 1892 J. E. Sperry bought Mr. Stringer's interest and soon afterward the Munnsville Plow Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $50,000, and C. W. Dexter, president, who was succeeded by Mr. Sperry; W. R. Paul, vice president; W. F. Bridge, secretary and treasure. In 1894 Mr. Dexter sold his interest to W. F. Bridge.

The Plow Co.’s main factory was destroyed by fire in 1920 after which it was re-established in Oneida, finally succumbing to increased competition from modern Midwest manufacturers in 1927.

During most of its history the firm employed an average of thirty-five hands, who by the early 1880s included not only Peter Schubert, but three of his stepsons. Unlike their brother Eugene who embarked upon a retail sales career in Rome, New York, William, George and August Schubert elected to follow in their father and stepfather’s footsteps and become blacksmiths.

The union of Peter & Margaret Schubert had also been blessed with children; Arthur F. (b.1869) and Lillian M. (b.1871). Although young Arthur had been born without the gift of hearing, after a period of study at the Rome School for the Deaf, he also entered into an apprenticeship as a blacksmith.

By 1888 an increasing demand for locally-built carriage and wagon gear resulted in the formation of the Oneida Manufacturing Company. Located at 42-50 Cedar St, the firm’s 1890 Oneida directory listing shows August Schubert, vice-president; George Schubert, superintendent. Also listed as employees were their step-father and step-brother; Peter and Arthur F. Schubert. 14 Broad St. was the home address of all interested parties.

Located next door at 62-70 Cedar St. was the Oneida Carriage Works, one of the many Oneida-based firms owned by wealthy Oneida banker Chester W. Chappell. Julius J, Smith, Secretary-Treasurer. Capitalized at $150,000, the firm was one of Oneida’s largest firm, and employed over 100 hands. The noted carriage delineator and designer, Walter C. Yelton, was apprenticed at the Oneida shops of J.L. Spencer and later served as the Oneida Carriage Works s chief designer after which he became associated with the well-known housed of J.M Quinby and John B. Judkins.

August Schubert served as the firm’s designer/engineer and during the next decade was awarded a number of patents directly related to wagon and carriage gear, the first awarded in October of 1893. By that time business had already progressed to the point where the brothers bought their own homes. The February 20, 1893 Syracuse Evening Herald reported:

“August Schubert has bought the house and lot of Mrs. D.C. Stark, who expects to go during the coming mouth to Portland, Oregon, where Mr. Stark has engaged in business. The price paid was $3,000.”

In 1897 Oneida Mfg. was reorganized into two firms; Schubert Bros. Gear Co. and Schubert & Siver.

George and August Schubert formed Schubert Brothers Gear Company, with George Schubert, president and manager, August Schubert, vice-president. The brothers took over 40-44 Cedar St, which was the northern half of the former Oneida Mfg. facility.

Located next door at 48-52 Cedar St. was Schubert & Siver, a firm organized by William F. Schubert and Merton L. Siver to build carriages and lumber wagons. In later years Schubert & Siver distributed fine carriages built by other manufacturers. After the retirement of William F. Schubert, it was reorganized as the Siver Carriage Co. which remained in business into the early 1920s as a Briscoe and International Harvester dealer.

The July 7, 1897 edition of the Syracuse Evening Herald announced Schubert’s acquisition of a new manufacturing facility:

“Oneida Chuck Company Making Preparations For a New Manufacturing Plant.

“Oneida, July 7.—The recently organized and Incorporated Oneida National Chuck company is making preparations for immediately beginning the erection of a new manufacturing plant. The old one in Cedar street has been purchased by the Schubert Brothers Gear Company, and the new one will be erected on the vacant lot between the old shop and the street.

“Its ground measurements are to be 00 by 00 feet, two stories high, and the material used is to be brick and steel. The machinery of the Whitlock National Chuck company which was amalgamated with the Oneida Manufacturing Chuck company in organizing the new concern, was shipped here yesterday from New York.”

In addition to wagon and carriage chassis, Schubert Brothers also manufactured vehicle bodies in the white, offering a complete line of wholesale surreys, buggies, wagons and carts which were well-represented in their 1900-1901 catalog whose 60-pages depicted a wide array of the firm’s gears, buggies, wagons and surreys.

Charles A. Halliday was another Oneida-based manufacturer who offered wholesale carriage tops, seats and dashes to regional carriage manufacturers and retailers. A circa 1904 Schubert Bros. trade listing denotes the firm’s entry into the automobile body business as well as their close association with C.A. Halliday:

“Schubert Brothers Gear Company, 40-42 Cedar St., Oneida. NY— Automobile body in the white; also buggy tops by C.A Halliday.”

The January 31, 1906 issue of the Horseless Age included the following small news item:

“The Schubert Brothers Gear Company, Oneida, NY, have increased their capital stock to $75000.”

A subsequent issue announced:

“Halliday, C.A., business consolidated with the Schubert Bros. Gear Co., Oneida, N.Y.”

The January 1906 recapitalization and consolidation also included a reorganization as August Schubert, one of the firm’s two principals and founders, resigned at the beginning of the year in order to form his own competing firm. The remaining Schuberts, headed by their eldest brother George, reorganized the firm whose officers and managers were as follows: Geo. Schubert, Pres. Mgr. and Hd. coach and carriage dept.; A. A. Woodruff. Mgr. automobile dept.; C. A. McMeikin, Chief Draftsman; A. Bristol, Treas.; C. A. Halliday, Sec.

The March 29, 1906 issue of The Automobile announced the formation of the August Schubert Gear Company:

“August Schubert Gear Company, Oneida, N. Y.; capital stock, $25,000. Directors, August Schubert, J.O. Schubert and S. F. White, Oneida.”

The March 17, 1906 Syracuse Post Standard announced that:

“Looking for Site.

“Oneida, March 10.—With the view of erecting a large wagon shop August Schubert is looking for a site. He was formerly interested in the affairs of the Schubert Bros.'. Gear Company, and has under consideration sites in West Railroad and Warner streets and another in Lenox avenue, west of Willow street.”

The March 30, 1906 issue of the same paper included the following tribute:

“Chair for August Schubert.

“Oneida, March 20 —A number of factory hands formerly employed under the supervision of August Schubert surprised him last evening at his home in Stone street. The workmen wore accompanied by their wives, and cards were played and refreshments served. Later in the evening Mr. Schubert was presented with a comfortable office chair as a token of the esteem in which he is held by his old shopmates.”

In 1907 George Schubert announced to the trades that the Schubert Brothers Gear Co. was planning to add a motor car to their usual line of carriages and wagons. However it’s doubtful that the project ever got past the planning stages and no mention of a prototype was forthcoming.

In the meantime August Schubert had established his factory at 1-3 Warner St., Oneida, and issued his own 44 page catalog of vehicle bodies, seats, trimmings and tops.

An article in the June 19, 1909 Syracuse Evening Herald mentioned that Schubert Bros. Gear had recently received a large order for automobile bodies:

“More Houses Needed. Mechanics Find Difficulty in Finding Suitable Homes for Families.

“Oneida. June 18,—Labor conditions in this city and the difficulty encountered by mechanics in securing houses at rent which they can afford to pay, and the trouble encountered by some manufacturers in securing the services of skilled mechanics is gone into somewhat in the following statement made to the local representative of The Herald by a resident of Oneida who has the welfare of the city and its commercial interests at heart.

"Schubert Brothers Gear company, the only firm in Oneida that has run full time since November 7th, has just received an order for 150 automobile bodies. These bodies are all to be delivered in August and September. This means that it will he necessary for the company to immediately add to its present force from twenty-five to thirty-five additional men. The management of this company states that it is very hard to encourage mechanics with families to locate here on account of not being able to secure suitable homes to live in. Oneida ought to be awake to the fact that from twenty to fifty homes are needed here, fitted with reasonable modern conveniences that would accommodate intelligent mechanics, such as are employed at most of the manufacturing 'establishments here at a rental of from $12 to $20 a month.

“This company has had several very flattering opportunities to move business out of town; In fact, a standing offer of an $18,000 cash bonus to locate its manufacturing establishment in another city. It is understood that they are considering accepting one of the propositions offered them.”

In 1910 Schubert Brothers trade directory listings no longer mentioned carriages, advertising that they built automobile bodies “… in Aluminum, or sheet steel — In the white or painted & trimmed.”

H.V. Goodenough, who later gained fame as the chief designer and manager of the A. J. Miller Co., of Bellefontaine, Ohio, worked for August Schubert early in his career.

Goodenough was born in Arlington, Vermont, on March 14, 1870 to Ezra and Augusta (Whitney) Goodenough. His father was a skilled woodworker and after a public education young H.V. applied himself to learning the carriage builder’s trade.

His first assignment was with the Currier Cameron Co. of Amesbury, Massachusetts after which worked for the Holt Brothers Manufacturing Co. of Concord, New Hampshire followed by the Sturtevant-Larrabee Company, of Binghamton N.Y.

He was subsequently hired by H.H. Babcock Co, of Watertown, N. Y. as a shop foreman, after which he relocated to Oneida where he served in the same capacity with Schubert Bros. He later moved to Detroit, Michigan as superintendent of the C.R. Wilson Body Co. eventually becoming a coachwork inspector for the Buick Automobile Co. of Flint, Michigan.

After a short stint with the Portland, Indiana’s Portland Body Works, Goodenough was appointed superintendent of A.J. Miller on March 15, 1915. In 1917 he became general manager of the firm and following the June 26, 1919 death of Allie J. Miller, the firm’s founder, was promoted to general manager by the firm’s new management who consisted of Lee M. Lentz and John W. Grabiel

The May 18, 1910 Syracuse Post-Standard announced that August Schubert had renamed his firm to better reflect their current line of vehicle bodies:

“A motion made by Coville & Moore to change the name of the August Schubert Gear Company to that of the August Schubert Wagon Company, opposed by Attorney Joseph Veal, was granted.”

As the automobile slowly replaced the carriage, the demand for wagon gear greatly diminished and Schubert Bros. was eventually forced into bankruptcy. The firm’s principals, George Schubert and Charles A. Halladay, decided to enter the booming home furniture business, and in 1914 formed the Meisterwerk Furniture Company. The firm did not survive the passing of George Schubert and was out of business by the end of the decade.

August Schubert’s firm fared much better and by 1914 offered a full line of truck bodies, farm wagons and funeral coaches. One period reference states the firm also manufactured mop ringers in addition to their motor vehicle bodies.

The December 5, 1915 issue of the Syracuse Herald announced the return of August Schubert’s son, Glendon to Oneida:

“Prof. Schubert Returns Home.

“Oneida, Dec: 4.—The many friends of Prof. Glendon A. Schubert of this city will be glad to welcome him back to this city. He recently resigned his position as teacher in the Industrial course in the York, Pa. High School to assume the management of the August Schubert Wagon Company in this city.”

The firm’s officers circa 1916 were as follows: August Schubert, president and treasurer; Glendon A. Schubert, secretary; Raymond A. Schubert, bookkeeper; Arthur Schubert, superintendent, blacksmith dept.

As did a number of other small makers, Schubert started off their professional car business by converting existing horse-drawn coaches for use on passenger car and light truck chassis which facilitated the need for a custom-built driver’s compartment for each vehicle. By the early twenties, most funeral directors no longer wanted converted coaches and Schubert began offering their own line of auto hearses and ambulances.

The March 27, 1919 Syracuse Herald included the following classified advertisement:

“WANTED—IMMEDIATELY, All-around commercial auto body and hearse body makers; also painters. Write full experience qualifications wages, etc., to August Schubert Wagon Co., Oneida, N.Y.”

Hundreds of smaller coachbuilders modified existing horse-drawn hearses and placed them on chassis supplied by their customer. The August Schubert of Oneida, New York, was one of these firms and produced a number of them for Central NY undertakers.  The adapted hearses are easy to spot as the roofline and enclosed cabs never match the lines and dimensions of their horse-drawn donors. Some conversions worked and some didn't, but Schubert's skilled craftsmen turned out quite a few good-looking converted coaches.

Schubert's 1921 catalog featured a massive 8-column carved-panel hearse mounted on a Packard chassis. The styling was several years behind the times and marked the beginning of the end for these cathedrals-on-wheels.

By the early Twenties almost everyone was using leaded beveled-glass windows and Schubert offered a funeral car with a large centrally placed example. Although this coach was called an 8-pillar, in reality it was a delivery van body mounted on a light-truck chassis with shallow pillar-like moldings applied to its exterior.

The City of Oneida renumbered the city’s streets in 1922 and although their physical address remained the same, Schubert’s mailing and street address changed from 1-5 Warner St. to 101-107 South Warner St. 

In 1923 Schubert built a pair of matching ambulances for the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company of Endicott, New York. Built on Larrabee Speed Six chassis, these massive Continental-engined coaches featured a red cross centered in their wide rear-compartment windows.

By the mid Twenties, carved and pillared funeral coach sales were faltering, yet smaller builders still found a market for the antiquated style as evidenced by Schubert's 1926 mailings. Schubert also manufactured limousine-style models, but their boxy appearance couldn't compete with the rounded lines of their competition.

Schubert built a pair of ambulances on Larabee Speed Six truck chassis for the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company. One was used at the firm’s Endicott, New York plant, the second for it Johnson City, New York factory.

06-23-1923 Carrie B. McCracken, daughter of the late James McCracken, of Huntingdon PQ, married William F. Schubert, of Oneida Castle, New York. At Oneida New York, by Rev. George B Swinnerton.

The May 24, 1924 Syracuse Herald included the following classified advertisement:

“Working Foreman, Automobile Painting

“Automobile body building factory requires highest class work. Working and living conditions good; wages satisfactory. Steady employment. In 15 years have run steadily through all depressions of business. Also men to apply and rub varnish and rough stuff.

“Apply in person. August Schubert Wagon Co., Oneida, N. Y.”

During the mid-twenties the August Schubert Wagon Co. entered the expanding bus body manufacturing field as evidenced by the following article in an early 1926 issue of Motor Coach Transportation:

“Schubert Builds De Luxe Pay Enter The new de luxe pay-enter model recently completed by the August Schubert Wagon Company of Oneida, New York is really a parlor car or coach job, as indicated by the accompanying illustration of the interior. The seats are covered with Eagle-Ottawa Colonial leather and are built around Nachman spring units.”

The January 15, 1927 issue of the Syracuse Herald contained a small item concerning the Schubert works:

“The Triumph Game Trap Company, employers of 60 hands and manufacturer of various sizes of game traps. The August Schubert Wagon Company has 25 men. This latter company specializes in hearse and bus bodies for trucks The product of both is widely known.”

The July 2, 1927 Syracuse Herald reported that Schubert had purchased Louis Vaeth & Sons, a longtime Syracuse wagon and carriage builder:

“Oneida Men Buy Syracuse Plant

“The August Schubert Wagon Company of Oneida bought and took possession of the plant and business of L. Vaeth & Sons, 336 South West Street, today and will continue the automobile repair and parts business conducted by Vaeths. The Oneida concern also plans to expand its own business here.

“Glendon Schubert of the Oneida concern, son of August Schubert, has been here several weeks arranging for the transfer of the business. The 30 men employed at the Vaeth plant will be retained for the present, it is understood.”

The Schubert family made the headlines during the summer of 1927 due to a tragic accident whereby August Schubert accidentally hit a vehicle in which his wife was a passenger.

As August was driving a company-owned vehicle, and was judged to be at fault, his wife submitted her medical bills to the Schubert Wagon Co.’s insurance company. When the insurance company refused to pay the bill, she filed a number of lawsuits, one against the insurance firm and another against the Wagon Company.

As Mrs. August (Jessie) Schubert, was a major shareholder and officer in the very firm she was suing, and her husband, while in the course of business, caused the accident, it made for an interesting trial and subsequent appeals.

In 1929 Postmaster Walter F. Brown spearheaded a bill that authorized funding for the US Postal Service to replace their aging fleet of surplus WWI Parcel Post delivery vehicles. A line of standardized bodies were eventually agreed upon and bids for the various body contracts were accepted during June of 1929. Although the dimensions differed, depending on the cubic footage of the bodies, the construction of all three body sizes was the same.

The specifications called for simple 96 to 250 cu ft bodies built using integral mortise and tenon frames joined by Plymetal (¾ inch steel-covered plywood) panels with no shelving. The rear mail compartment was accessible from the driver’s compartment via a lockable sliding door built into a hollow behind the driver’s seat.

The mail compartment was also accessible from the rear using a pair of outside hinged doors that were locked in place by raising a built-in tailgate. Some versions used totally enclosed bodies while others utilized metal-screened doors that included built-in nitrite-coated canvas curtains for inclement weather use. Driver’s entered the front compartment via bi-lateral sliding doors that could be held open during hot weather.

York-Hoover Body Co. of York, Pennsylvania was awarded the contract to build four-hundred 96 cu. ft. postal body, all of which were placed ½-ton Ford Model A cab and chassis. The Mifflinburg Body Co. of Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania was awarded the contract to build five-hundred mid-sized bodies for the ½ ton Ford Model A chassis as well as five-hundred-fifty similar-sized bodies for the larger Ford Model AA.

One June 28, 1929 the August Schubert Wagon Co. was awarded the contract to produce the two-hundred-fifty 200 cu. ft. and one-hundred-fifty 215 cu. ft. bodies specified in the contract. Although the bodies were supposed to be delivered within 4 months, various delays in manufacture prolonged the delivery schedule and the final body wasn’t delivered until June of 1930. Schubert received a reported $325 for each body.

Not only was the postal body commission the largest contract ever received by Schubert during its 23-year history, it was also their last. Unlike their better-funded competitors, Schubert was unable to weather the first two years of the Depression and was forced into bankruptcy during 1931.

The June 30, 1931 Syracuse Herald carried the sad news:

“August Schubert Wagon Company of Oneida filed schedules with liabilities of $153,502 and assets of $25,586. Assets included stock in Associated Autocraft Industries at Syracuse valued at $22,000 par. John R.C. Hodgson, assistant treasurer, signed the schedules.

“James Moore of Rochester has claims for a total of $108,647. Other creditors include Associated Autocraft Industries, $1,268; Autocraft Realty Corp., $11,200; Burhans & Black, $42,789; Lite-Ray Specialty Co., $3,885; State Insurance Fund, $1,970, and F.P. Collins Paint Co., $1,800, all of Syracuse. Attorneys Searl & McElroy represent the bankrupt.”

Sometime during 1930 Associated Autocraft Industries, a holding company that just happened to be controlled by James Moore, Schubert’s largest creditor, acquired an interest in the firm in exchange for Associated stock. Records indicate that Moore had recently made a similar arrangement with J.L. Oakes, the president of the Arcadia Truck Body Co. of Newark, New York.

As the bankruptcy proceedings convey, Moore was already in control of Schubert and sometime prior to the bankruptcy announcement the firm’s 336 South Street factory in Syracuse had been turned over to Associated.

At about the same time Associated announced they were planning on producing school buses and commercial bodies for both domestic and International customers. An early 1931 item in one of the bus trades stated that Associated planned on building a 50-passenger bus body at their new Syracuse factory.

Apparently Moore’s finances were linked directly to the declining stock market and by December 13, 1931, all three firms – Associated, Schubert and Arcadia – had been declared bankrupt.

Apparently the news was too much to bear for August Schubert and within the week, he was dead. The December 20, 1931 Syracuse Herald reported:

“Fall in Shaft Fatal to Auto Body Builder
“August Schubert Dies from Injuries in Mishap at Shop.
“Skull Was “Fractured”
“Accident Discovered by Son When Parent Failed to Return

“Injuries suffered in a fall down an elevator shaft in his shop Thursday night proved fatal to August Schubert, 67, of 919 South State Street. automobile body manufacturer, in Onondaga General Hospital at 9:02 o'clock last night. Death was attributed to a fractured skull.

“Mr. Schubert's condition had been regarded as critical by attending physicians since he was taken to the hospital after his son, Glendon Schubert, found him unconscious at the base of the lift shaft.

“The body manufacturer, a former Oneida resident, had made his home in Syracuse the last two sears. Prior to that he had commuted from his home to his place of business.

“At the time Mr. Schubert was found, police were unable to ascertain how long he had been lying at the base of the shaft. There were no witnesses to the fall. In addition to the fatal skull injury, the body maker suffered a concussion of the brain, a fractured left arm, and multiple body bruises and lacerations.

“The son was sent to the shop, by Mrs. Schubert to learn why he had failed to return home for dinner Thursday night. He arrived at the shop at 9:45 o'clock and found his parent. An ambulance was called and took the injured man to the hospital

“Since moving here from Oneida the Schuberts had made their home in Linden Street. Hospital officials informed county morgue attendants of the case. Dr. William B. Winne, county coroner, directed that the body be taken to the morgue, where an autopsy will be performed. Arrangements for the funeral are incomplete”

Although the paper refrained from stating the obvious, it is assumed that Schubert was responsible for his own death.

© 2004 Mark Theobald - Coachbuilt.com with special thanks to Thomas A. McPherson

 

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