Coachbult.com - Dekalb Commercial Body Corporation



Dekalb Commercial Body Corp. - 1941-1970 - Dekalb Wagon Works - 1912-1941 - Sycamore Wagon Works 1904-1912 - Dekalb, Illinois

According to an advertisement found in the collection’s scrapbook, the Sycamore Wagon Works was the successor to Shipman, Bradt & Co. The Sycamore Wagon Works was established on January 20, 1904 to “to manufacture vehicles and other articles similar thereto.” William Smith, Harrison F. Gleason, and George W. Dunton formed the company with capital stock of $60,000. Frank C. Patten and Harrison F. Gleason each bought 200 stocks and Will Smith and S.E. Bradt each bought 100 stocks. Will Smith, M.D. Shipman, H.F. Gleason, Thos. L. Halloran and Frank C. Patten were elected Board of Directors. The name changed to DeKalb Wagon Company on April 30, 1912 and moved to 229 W. Garden Street in DeKalb, Illinois. On February 26, 1941 the name changed to the DeKalb Commercial Body Corporation. The Company was listed in the 1969 DeKalb City Directory but the property was listed as a vacant lot in the 1971 Directory.

DeKalb Motor Trucks, Catalog No. 5,

DeKalb Business Wagons Catalog No. 41

DeKalb Hand Made Bodies, Catalog

DeKalb Auto-Wagon Brochure

Dodge-DeKalb Step-Go Trucks Brochure

DeKalb Deluxe Urban Delivery Brochure

Dekalb Commercial Body Corporation – Dekalb Illinois –

1934-35 Dekalb Step Go Milk Body - 1954 Silver Book

delivery bodies ad in 1953 Silver Book pp42-43

ad 1963 GMC Truck Equipment Catalog pp72

In 1953 Dekalb offered 6 styles: Panelette, Panelette Jr., Creamliner, Urbanette, 10' & 12' Panel Delivery, Van Body and Refrigerated Van Body.

Lumber King Body. - Mounted on any chassis. Specifications: Length 21 ft. 6 in. (6.6 m.); width 95 ½ in. (2.4 m.). Full width roller in front and a split roller in rear, making possible the roll off delivery of different loads on same trip. Loading space dimensions are such that practically any combination of lengths can be handled.

DeKalb Commercial Body Corporation, DeKalb, Illinois – 1950s Silver Book

1934-35 Dekalb Step Go Milk Body of Dodge chassis

1946 light duty walk-in body on Ford half-ton cowl & chassis. Used by route salesmen, florists, bakers, dry cleaners and parcel delivery firms.

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Seymour Hunt was employed early on as a bookkeeper with Will Ellwood's Percheron horse business, and then as secretary of Patten Manufacturing Co. in Sycamore (Sycamore Foundry Co.). He went on to organize the Standard Foundry and Manufacturing Company of DeKalb, and also served as president of the DeKalb Wagon Works (later DeKalb Commercial Body) at the time his new residence on Augusta Avenue was completed in 1923.

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Sycamore Wagon Works materials and a 1941 DeKalb Wagon Works stock certificate

For more information please read:

DeKalb Wagon Company Collection - Northern Illinois Regional History Center, Founders Memorial Library, Room 400, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, Illinois

G.N. Georgano & G. Marshall Naul - The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles

Albert Mroz - Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks & Commercial Vehicles

Denis Miller - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trucks and Buses

Tad Burness - American Truck Spotter's Guide, 1920-1970

Tad Burness - American Truck & Bus Spotter's Guide, 1920-1985

Robert M Roll - American trucking: A seventy-five year odyssey

David Jacobs - American Trucks: A photographic essay of American Trucks and Trucking

David Jacobs - American Trucks: More Colour Photographs of Truck & Trucking

John Gunnell - American Work Trucks: A Pictorial History of Commercial Trucks 1900-1994

George W. Green - Special-Use Vehicles: An Illustrated History of Unconventional Cars and Trucks

Daniel D. Hutchins - Wheels Across America: Carriage Art & Craftsmanship

Ronald G. Adams - 100 Years of Semi Trucks