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The precursor to
Republic Motor Truck Company was the Alma Manufacturing Company, founded by Frank Ruggles, which began producing trucks in 1913 for the Maxwell Motor Company under the Hercules name. Not long afterwards, Ruggles reorganized the company, first as the Alma Motor Truck Company and then
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At the end of the war, Republic, which now had an annual capacity of 30,000 trucks a year, decided to expand and financed this expansion by issuing $ 3 million in gold notes. However, a postwar depression combined with the return of thousands of
Liberty trucks to the United States led to a major
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By 1918, Republic was advertising in such national publications as the
Saturday Evening Post, declaring that one goes to "Damascus for swords, Teheran for rugs, Lynn for shoes, Rochester for cameras, Dayton for cash registers, Alma for trucks." Over 3,000 dealers served the United States, with
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The company was already doing well by 1916, but the entry of the United States into World War I gave the company a further boost when it won one of the government's contracts to build several thousand of the so-called
Liberty trucks. In 1917, Republic purchased a major supplier, Torbensen Axle
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The company got some early publicity from two firsthand accounts of cross-country trips using
Republic trucks. One trip was taken by two men, Lester Poyer and H. L. Dewey, and their adventures were later published as a book,
59:. By 1918, it was recognized as the largest exclusive truck manufacturer in the world, and the maker of one out of every nine trucks on the roads in the United States. It was one of the major suppliers of "
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McMacken, David, and Louise
Davenport (1976). "Down Twelve Decades: A Pictorial History of Alma, Michigan", np. Alma Bicentennial Committee, Alma, Michigan.
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92:) and his family, whose adventures were chronicled in the pamphlet "An Auto-Biography" that was distributed by the company.
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Weimer, Andrew M. (1934). "An
Economic History of Alma, Michigan", University of Chicago doctoral dissertation
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https://web.archive.org/web/20081227112626/http://www.transchool.eustis.army.mil/Museum/LIBTrucks.htm
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76:(after changing the truck's name from Hercules to Republic) as the Republic Motor Truck Company .
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Flash and fizzle : the rise and fall the
Republic Motor Truck Company of Alma, Michigan
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After the sudden death of its president, Oliver Hayes, in 1928, the company merged with the
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Company to become LaFrance-Republic. LaFrance-Republic in turn was purchased by the
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reduction in demand for new trucks. Republic's output dropped to 1,453 in 1921.
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Lost Truck
Legends: An Illustrated History of Unique, Small-Scale Truck Builders
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additional dealers in at least 56 foreign countries and colonies.
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Selling
Torbensen Axle in 1922 (later Eaton Axle and Spring, now
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http://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/company/about-us/our-heritage.html
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in 1951. A parts depot for Republic existed in Alma until 1957.
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Share of the Republic Motor Truck Company, issued 19. June 1922
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was a manufacturer of commercial trucks circa 1913 - 1929, in
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McMacken, David. "Republic Trucks Put Alma on the Map".
264:http://www.johncolemanburroughs.com/mag0/0030.html
463:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan
458:Defunct truck manufacturers of the United States
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196:Edgar Rice Burroughs, "An Auto-Biography", 1917
221:(Alma, MI), Centennial Edition, June 28, 1956.
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27:A 1918 Republic Tractor advertisement in the
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82:4080 Mile Haul By Republic Dispatch Truck
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53:Republic Motor Truck Company
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152:References and notes
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354:Michael J. Critelli
324:Alexander M. Cutler
128:White Motor Company
349:Christopher Connor
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219:Alma Record
184:Morning Sun
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65:World War I
452:Categories
425:Buildings
395:Powerware
390:Eaton MTL
342:Directors
140:G-numbers
96:Company.
400:Wheelock
378:Products
134:See also
71:History
317:People
90:Tarzan
310:Eaton
51:The
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