The Spaulding Manufacturing Company is a complex of historic buildings located in

Grinnell, Iowa Grinnell is a city in Poweshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,564 at the time of the 2020 census. It is best known for being the home of Grinnell College. History Grinnell was founded by settlers from New England who were ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

native H.W. Spaulding settled in Grinnell in 1876 to open a blacksmith and wagon repair shop. Not long after, he started to manufacture wagons. Because of his modest success he entered into a series of partnerships over the years. The oldest building in the complex was completed around 1880, and the company grew to a complex of five buildings. The last building was completed in 1910, and has a masonry chimney that originally rose to high. All the buildings are brick construction, and they range in height from two floors to three floors. As modes of transportation began to change, so did Spaulding. The company began manufacturing automobiles. They were one of several early automobile manufacturers that had existing operations that manufactured bicycles, wagons, and carriages. They went out of business in 1929. Since that time the facility has housed a variety of small-scale manufactures, and even a veterinary clinic. Part of the plant was renovated and now houses the administration offices for the City of Grinnell and displays for the Iowa Transportation Museum, which is now closed due to a variety of financial issues. The largest buildings of the manufacturing complex were renovated and converted into the Spaulding Lofts apartments. The complex was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1978.

References

Grinnell, Iowa Buildings and structures in Poweshiek County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Poweshiek County, Iowa Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Car manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturing plants on the National Register of Historic Places Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa {{PoweshiekCountyIA-NRHP-stub