W.F. Stewart Company
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The W.F. Stewart Company was an American carriage body and automotive body manufacturer founded in 1881 by William Francis Stewart and based in Flint, Michigan. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of wooden carriage bodies for horse-drawn transport and later automotive bodies. The company also briefly produced
light aircraft A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. Light aircraft are used as utility aircraft co ...
, but went out of business in the Great Depression.


History

Company founder William Francis Stewart was born on the family homestead farm near
London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
in 1846. He started his work life as an apprentice carriage maker with a series of companies. After the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
ended he and his brother both moved to the
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 territori ...
and became
journeyman A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...
carriage builders at a number of the leading manufacturers in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. In 1868 both brothers moved to Pontiac, Michigan and William Francis Stewart started working for carriage maker Parsons & Page there. He then moved to Flint, Michigan and was employed at Roosevelt & Stewart, with whom his brother was a partner. The two brothers did not get along well and William Francis Stewart returned to Pontiac and the employ of Parsons & Page until 1871 when he again moved to Flint to work for carriage maker W.A. Patterson Company. William Francis Stewart worked for Patterson until 1881, when he left to start his own company, leasing the top floor of a small factory building in Pontiac, where he constructed carriage bodies and other sub-assemblies. Most of his work was sold to his former employer, W.A. Patterson. Stewart's work proved to be of good quality and his business soon expanded to include the
Durant-Dort Carriage Company Durant-Dort Carriage Company was a manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in Flint, Michigan. Founded in 1886, by 1900 it was the largest carriage manufacturer in the country. This very successful business made the partners rich men and it became the ...
, the
Flint Wagon Works Flint Wagon Works of Flint, Michigan, manufactured wagons from the early 1880s. One of the world's most successful horse-drawn vehicle makers they formed with their Flint neighbours a core of the American automobile industry. In 1905 Flint was p ...
, as well as the W.A. Patterson Co as customers. Stewart was able to expand his company, building a large new factory in Flint and a smaller plant in
Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metrop ...
to supply carriage builders in the
Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...
district. On 31 January 1893 the Pontiac plant suffered a boiler explosion that demolished the building and seriously injured many of the fifty workers at the plant. The factory was rebuilt under the supervision of one of Stewart's sons, Samuel Sidney Stewart, with the Flint operation taking up the work of the Pontiac plant. After the Pontiac operation was restored, Samuel Sidney Stewart continued as manager until 1898. In that year he returned to Flint and was joined there by his younger brother, a
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
veteran of the
Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...
, William E. Stewart. Since the two brothers did not get along well and wishing to retire, William Francis Stewart divided the company, creating the Flint Body Company for William E. Stewart to run. William Francis Stewart remained president of both companies, while his sons were made vice-presidents. W.F. Stewart Company comprised half of the Flint factory and the Pontiac operation, while the Flint Body Company ran the Bay City location and the other half of the Flint plant. By the turn of the 20th century both enterprises turned their ambitions to horseless carriages and the potential for working in this new industry. William Francis Stewart was an initial investor in the Buick Motor Company and served for many years on its board of directors. William E. Stewart's Flint Body Company started producing wooden automotive bodies first and in 1903 sold 200 units to the Merchants' Specialty Company of New York City. The demand for Buicks was big enough that car production was moved from Flint to Jackson, Michigan. When
William C. Durant William Crapo Durant (December 8, 1861 – March 18, 1947) was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry and co-founder of General Motors and Chevrolet. He created a system in which a company held multiple marques – each s ...
bought Buick in 1904 he returned the facility to Flint and W.F. Stewart Company constructed a new factory on the Buick Hamilton Farm complex. In 1908 the newly formed General Motors, which had taken over Buick, purchased Stewart's plant for
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
240,000 in GM stock and then leased the building to Buick, with W.F. Stewart Company retaining their head offices in the complex. The father, William Francis Stewart, died in 1911, leaving the companies to his two sons. William E. Stewart retained the Flint Body Company, while Samuel Sidney Stewart took over the W.F. Stewart Company. By the spring of 1912 Flint Body was in
receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in c ...
, with liabilities of US$64,000. William E. Stewart eventually recovered from the loss and started the W.E. Stewart Manufacturing Company, becoming a Buick and General Motors supplier. By 1916, during the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the W.F. Stewart Company had doubled its size and Samuel Sidney Stewart was appointed to serve as a board member or officer of several companies, including as vice president of the Union Industrial Trust Company and on the boards of the Union Industrial Bank and Union Trust Savings Bank. He also became a major shareholder in General Motors. For his part William E. Stewart also became a major GM share holder and was on the board of the National Bank of Flint. By the dawn of the 1920s the W.F. Stewart Company was still building a few parts for horse-drawn carriages but the majority of the company business was as an automotive supplier, building car bodies for Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet,
Dort Motor Car Company The Dort Motor Car Company of Flint, Michigan, built automobiles from 1915 to 1924. In 1886, William Crapo "Billy" Durant and Josiah Dallas ("Dallas") Dort, as equal partners, established the Flint Road-Cart Company, later named the Durant ...
, Durant's Flint Division, Oakland Motor Car Company and the
Peerless Motor Company The Peerless Motor Car Company was an American automobile manufacturer that produced the Peerless brand of motorcars in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1900 to 1931. One of the "Three Ps" Packard, Peerless, and Pierce-Arrowthe company was known for buil ...
. Due to changes in the industry and in particular GM's acquisition of Fisher Body, business volume shrunk and the company started to specialize in custom work. In 1928, just after
Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
's high-profile May 20–21, 1927 solo transatlantic flight, Samuel Sidney Stewart became interested in building aircraft as a means of diversification. A hangar at the corner of Saginaw and Maple Roads in Flint became the company's aviation division to build the prototype, John L. Hunt designed, Stewart M-1
monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
. The design was not very aesthetically attractive and did not attract any orders for production examples. In 1930 the second design flew. The Stewart M-2 was again a John Hunt design, assisted by Lionel Kitchen. This was a much more modern aircraft with twin engines, but it was introduced just as the Great Depression was in full swing and no orders were forthcoming. Samuel Sidney Stewart still believed aviation had a bright future and collaborated with E.T. Strong, the president of Buick, in building the
Bishop International Airport Bishop International Airport is a commercial and general aviation airport located in Flint, Michigan, United States. It is named after banker and General Motors board member Arthur Giles Bishop (April 12, 1851 – January 22, 1944), who do ...
a project finished in 1934. W.F. Stewart Company ceased operations in 1935, although the company existed until 1939 as a paper entity, a victim of the Great Depression.


Aircraft


References

{{W.F. Stewart Company aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States