Elkhart County RV History
The History of the RV and Manufactured Housing Industry in and around Elkhart Indiana
Copyright 2001 by Al Hesselbart
The "trailer coach" industry came to Elkhart, Indiana, before 1930 when several individuals made trailers for personal use and probably a few for resale. In 1934, Milo Miller brought his Sportsman Trailer Company from Mishawaka, where it had operated in rented space at the Lowe Lumber Company for two years, to a small garage building at 515 Harrison Street, Elkhart. In 1933, Wilbur Schult had signed to become a dealer for Arthur Sherman’s Covered Wagon trailers made in Mt. Clemons, Michigan, having seen their display at the Chicago World's Fair. The Schult Trailer Mart's first sales location was inside the W.J. Schult and Son Clothing Store at 605 S. Main St (where the Elkhart Post Office stands today). In 1935, Schult contracted to also become the exclusive national distributor of Sportsman Trailers (Sportsman trailers sold for $168 dealer cost) and moved his wholesale and retail operations to 540 E. Jackson Blvd. in the area where Easy Shopping Place is today. Among Schult’s largest group of customers were members of the vaudeville and carnival industries and he advertised extensively in Billboard and Variety Magazines.
In February of 1936, responding to rapidly increasing demand, Miller moved his Sportsman Trailer production into a section of the Noyes Carriage factory on South Main St. and, only one month later, in March, sold his company to Wilbur Schult and his father, William, who renamed it Schult Trailer Coach. (In 2000, 64 years later, Schult Homes still used that facility for warehouse space.) Walter Wells joined Wilbur in the operation was made Vice President and General Manager of Schult Trailer Coach. By 1939, Schult and Wells had taken over the entire Noyes factory and were producing and selling 125 trailers per week. Schult was now, in just three short years of production experience, being recognized as having replaced his old supplier Covered Wagon as the largest trailer manufacturer in America. Schult had also begun an international operation, having opened a division in Christ Church, New Zealand in 1938, thus becoming the first manufacturer of trailers in the South Pacific area.
Having sold his Sportsman Trailer Co. to Wilbur Schult, Milo Miller started another company in the basement of the Noyes factory. Very shortly thereafter, when Schult bought the building and began to expand his operation, he asked Miller to leave, and Miller then bought the vacant Elcar auto plant at 701 West Beardsley Avenue and renamed his new company Elcar Coach. By the end of 1936, after only a few months of successful operation, he sold the Elcar Coach works to Jerry Wilde and Henry Hill; they in turn sold the company to William MacDonald, of Mid States Corporation in Battle Creek, Michigan, who moved it to Bourbon, Indiana. Milo Miller then moved his interests to Huntington, Indiana, where he started the National Trailer Co. in 1937. National moved to Elwood, Indiana, in 1938 and, during the war, it grew to employ over 500 workers producing trailers for housing military and government workers in the war effort. After World War II, Miller sold National Coach to his partner, Daniel Singer, and others; and later it became part of the Zimmer Corporation based in Detroit. Because of the number of successful companies he started, and the large number of industry executives that had begun their careers working for him, as well as the innovations that he had developed, Milo Miller became known nationally as the “School Teacher” of the trailer coach industry.
In 1935, Oliver Platt, a railroad man who also operated a black and silver fox ranch in the north Elkhart area, (near where the Walmart store is today), bought the new but failing Doloretta Furniture Company with his sons Harold and Eldon and began making the Platt Trail-a-Home. In 1936, the Platts built some trailers that had been commissioned for resale by Vernon Ball, an Elkhart auto dealer. After receiving only three of the ordered coaches, Ball decided that he could build them himself and, with Jay Wallick, formed the Ball-Wallick Co. to build Pathfinder brand trailers. When Pathfinder failed after only a few months of operation, Wilbur Schult bought the entire inventory and equipment of the company in order to expand the production capability of his growing operation. During 1936, a “Mr. Rice” (who is credited with having been the inventor of the waffle ice cream cone) approached the Platts with an idea for a special trailer from which to sell ice cream and other food concessions. The Platt Trailer Company then built what was probably the very first commercial concession trailer, but did not patent the idea and very soon thereafter several other manufacturers were building them. Oliver Platt died in 1939 and his son Harold became President of the Platt Trailer Co.
In 1936, Ernie Harris had contacted Oliver Platt with hopes of investing in the growing Platt Trailer Co. When his offer was denied, he formed the Harris Caravan Co. in a plant on McDonald St. When Harris moved his manufacturing operation to Plymouth in 1937, Platt acquired the McDonald Street location and operated there until 1960, when 12-foot wide homes began to become popular but would not fit on his assembly line. This marked the end of production for the Platt Trailer Company. Harold Platt then opened the Platt Trailer Sales on Cassopolis Street in 1962 and became the first retailer for many local companies including both Coachmen Industries and Jayco. Harris Caravan operated in Plymouth for only a very short time and closed in 1937.
In the summer of 1936, Platt dismissed Steve Stanley, his sales manager. Stanley went to an available building on McKinley Rd. in Mishawaka and formed the Ideal Manufacturing Co. to build Stage Coach brand trailers but ran into financial problems before the year was out. (The famous Charles Lindberg trailer at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan is a Stage Coach unit - a product of that brief venture.) Ralph Kennedy and Norman Wolfe, owner of Silver Dome Coach in Detroit, acquired the failing company and moved it to Cassopolis, Michigan, where it was reorganized as American Coach and became an industry leader.
In 1936, Prairie Schooner was started in a plant on Sterling Ave. by Henry Kretschmer and his sons. At Christmas time that year, the plant was destroyed by a huge fire. Louis and Pete Proesel helped to rebuild the company in a facility on Elkhart Avenue. They succeeded and, in 1941, sold the company to Maynard Wells (brother of Walter) who left Schult, where he was Vice President of Sales, and had sold his shares in that company to buy Prairie Schooner.
Evans Trailer Company was building standard and custom units in 1938.
Monarch Coach, founded by George Kesler, was building both production and custom trailers at 2500 S. Main in 1939.
Clem Whiteman began building Whiteman trailers on U.S. 20 east of Mishawaka in 1939. His plant was the same building where Stanley’s Ideal Manufacturing had built the Stage Coach units. Whiteman's trailers were fairly expensive with the base model selling for $895 when most manufacturers had units in the $395 - $495 range. In the spring of 1941, Bill Rivers acquired the Whiteman Trailer Co. Just two months later, a tragic fire completely destroyed the Mishawaka facility, and Rivers bought an old paper mill in Elkhart, moved his production and changed the company name to LaSalle Coach.
In 1940, H.L. Spencer founded Liberty Coach in Bremen and later opened a plant in Syracuse. Liberty was acquired by Edward Hussey, Sr. in 1960. The company headquarters was later moved to Goshen and Liberty Homes continues today as a third generation family run business.
In 1941, John Drexler, a supplier of bedding to the early manufacturers, formed the Superior Trailer Co. in Garrett, Indiana, and in 1942, he moved to Goshen where Don Farr became a partner and the name was changed to Superior Industries.
During WWII, most private trailer production ceased due to rationing of materials and Schult Trailer Coach began building what were probably the first modular homes - under government contract. They built over 1000 homes in two 8 x 24 foot sections that were fully furnished at the factory and transported to Tennessee to be assembled on wood timber foundations and create the town of Oak Ridge for the Manhattan Project, and also to the Fontana Dam in North Carolina for the TVA. Schult also built glider recovery units for the Army Air Corps and POW transport vehicles. In 1945, when the war ended and material rationing began to be discontinued, Schult returned to conventional trailer production.
In 1945, Elmer Weaver organized the Yellowstone Coach Co. in Wakarusa. Stewart Gardner started Stewart Coach in Bristol in 1945. Ted and Claude Gerring formed Buddy Coach (later a part of Skyline) in 1946 at 1602 W. Bristol St, Elkhart. In 1948 Smoker Lumber Co. in New Paris, began trailer production. Smoker was already recognized as the world's largest producer of boat oars and paddles.
After the war, trailer production grew rapidly in and around Elkhart and, by 1949, over 35 companies were producing trailers locally. They included:
(Adams, Alcan, American, Bremen, Bristol, Buddy, Church, Elkhart, Empire, Franklin, Goshen, Home Comfort, Kerlin, LaSalle, Liberty, Majestic, Merit, Nappanee, Nobes, Pacemaker, Platt, Prairie Schooner, Richardson, Safari, Schult, Spaugh, Smoker, Stewart, Superior, Syracuse, Terra Cruiser, Travelmaster, Waco, Yellowstone, and Zollinger)
The parts supplier industry was exploding in the late 40s also with dozens of firms providing materials for the booming industry.
(Barnes Heater, Bender, Blues Supply, Borneman and Son, Burnstines Distributing, Dobbins, Electric Sales Co. Electric Supply Co. …Elkhart Bedding,…Elkhart Lumber and Sawmill(Homan)…Elkhart Paint, Elkhart Tool and Die, …Excel, Franger and Foster Gas, General Bedding, Gilcore, Central Welding, Elkhart Bridge &Iron,…Elkhart Welding and Boiler(Bock Products)…Hart Pressed Steel(Beck Industries), Ideal Mfg, Johnson and Davison, Liggett Supply, Beno Martin, …Morgan Drive Away, O'Brien Varnish, Outing Mfg, Shrum Awnings and Dollies, Reese Products, Henry Weis and others) were all very involved in the exploding trailer industry
By 1949, Elkhart was being regularly identified in the trailer industry trade press as the “Trailer Capital of the World”.
