Join the Detroit Historical Museum in welcoming Ruth Fruehauf and Rick Neumann as they present the history of their grandfathers’ invention of the semi-trailer and subsequent founding of the Fruehauf Trailer Company.
The presentation takes place on Sunday, June 7 at 2:30 p.m. in the Louise C. Booth Auditorium, and will celebrate the grand opening of the newest America’s Motor City showcase display, Fruehauf: The First Name in Transportation, which was developed in partnership with the Fruehauf Trailer Historical Society. A reception with refreshments will follow from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the Ford Piquette Plant, the birthplace of the Model T, at 461 Piquette Avenue in the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood and a short drive from the Detroit Historical Museum.
August Fruehauf was a well-known German blacksmith and wagon maker. In 1914, Frederick M. Sibley, a local lumber tycoon, needed to transport an 18-foot boat to his cottage using a Ford Model T, and asked Fruehauf if a wagon could be attached. Fruehauf and his partner Otto Neumann converted the roadster, and the first semi-trailer was born.
In 1918, August Fruehauf needed to incorporate his growing business, and the Fruehauf Trailer Company was founded. As the practicality of the semi-trailer idea was demonstrated, larger trucks, replacing improvised passenger cars, were immediately purchased and placed in service by forward-looking businesses. By 1929, sales had reached $3.75 million. Fruehauf was the biggest firm in the field and sold more trailers than all their competitors put together.
August Fruehauf retired in 1930, leaving the company in the hands of his three sons. Ruth’s father, Roy Fruehauf, ran the company from 1949 to 1963 and turned what had once been a Detroit blacksmith shop into one of the world’s largest businesses.
By 1997, Fruehauf was ranked 75th globally among the largest companies, but internal and external difficulties led to bankruptcy proceedings not long after, and the U.S. company was bought by Wabash National. At that point, its international subsidiaries became independent, and Fruehauf trailers are still being produced in countries like France, Germany, Mexico and New Zealand.
The Detroit Historical Museum, located at 5401 Woodward Ave. (NW corner of Kirby) in Midtown Detroit, is open to the public Tuesday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free for all, all the time. Parking in the Museum’s lot is $6 at all times. Group tour pricing and information is available by calling 313.833.7979. Permanent exhibits include the famous Streets of Old Detroit, the Allesee Gallery of Culture, Kid Rock Music Lab, Doorway to Freedom: Detroit and the Underground Railroad, Detroit: The “Arsenal of Democracy,” the Gallery of Innovation, Frontiers to Factories, America’s Motor City, and The Glancy Trains. For more information, call the Museum at 313.833.1805 or check out our website at detroithistorical.org.
Source: Detroit Historical Society
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