Years In Operation: 1920-1921 Models Built: Prototype, fire truck, logging truck(2) Approximate Number of Cars or Trucks Built: At least 4 Factory Address: 109 South Mill St., St. Louis, MI Officers of the Company:
Henry B. Soule: President
Maurice Bollstrom: Vice President
Guy Hamilton: General Manager
James B. Dick: Factory Manager
Fred C. Ohland: Sales Manager
J. Jandasek: Chief Engineer
Karl F. Rangee: Also Chief Engineer
S.O. Burgdorff: District Sales Manger
Henry J. Paulus: Director
E.E. Bennett: Director
W.H. Hall: Director
Samuel Hall: Director
What can i see today?
At the present time no known examples of the Bollstrom exist and research is continuing to find the vehicles or artifacts. The St. Louis Area Historical Society has other great history of the area as well as information on the Bollstrom truck and a 1917 Republic truck built in nearby Alma. Address: 110 E. Crawford St., St. Louis, MI 48880 Phone: (989) 875-4463 Website: https://www.stlouismi.com/1/stlouis/historical_society.asp
The story
Maurice Bollstrom had been involved with other ventures before coming to St, Louis. Although the Duplex Power Car Company was formed in Charlotte, MI in 1909 it made many trucks and truck parts and was reorganized into the Duplex Truck Company in 1916 and made trucks all the way until 1955. Bollstrom was not only involved with this company but also had his own business prior in 1915 which also made trucks. The Bollstrom Products Sales Company was located in Battle Creek, MI. The articles below are from May, 1915 and January, 1916...
Bolstrom had a patent from his days at Duplex in 1916 for a driving mechanism...
Henry H. Soule was to be general manager as announced in 1920...
The other officers of the new company had a lot of automotive experience as well. Guy Hamilton was the driving force behind the Gaylord automobile and Joseph Jandasek who was picked to be the chief engineer had former experience with Plana Tractor and Paige-Detroit...
The pitch went out to raise money for the new company in hopes of attracting investors. The prototype truck was driven all around Michigan in the summer of 1920 including up to Cheboygan where another office was opened in the Fay Hall Hotel...
This article from the Commercial Car Journal Dec. 15th, 1920, shows the prototype truck along with 2 logging trucks...
This story also from late 1920 talks of the Bollstrom and all of its' excellent qualities...
Many thousands of dollars in stock were raised...
This article shows the land to build the Bollstrom plant being purchased,,,
The ground breaking of the new plant...
This letter shows the company in the process of finding vendors to supply the parts for the trucks...
One of the trucks built was the St. Louis fire truck. Shown below are the blue prints as well as several photos,,,
This article from the Alma Record, Sept. 16th, 1920 shows Henry Soule, the president of Bollstrom, killed in an auto accident just as the company was starting to take off.
After Soule's death the company could not come to an agreement to make Bollstrom president. In October of 1920 the decision was deferred to January....
In January of 1921 the company seemed to be headed for great success. A group of new officers was elected, the capital was to increase to $2,000,000, and a light speed truck was to be produced. Bollstrom was not elected as president or any other position...
Just as quickly as things seemed to be moving along, the company started to have problems. In July 1921 it looked as if Bollstrom was already thinking ahead to the next venture. These articles show his work on front-wheel drive units to be marketed for automobiles...
In this article from the Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record, Volume 28 July 1921, it was suggested that Frank Ruggles of the Republic Truck Company and Ruggles Truck Company might take over the plant...
Chilton's Motor Age Volume 40 Part 2 Oct. 6th, 1921 states that Ruggles did arrange to take over the plant but further records show Ruggles untimately went on to form his own company in Saginaw...
Perhaps many factors led to the demise of the company. A huge problem the entire truck industry faced was an abundance of trucks after the war. The company went into receivership in by September of 1921...
S.O. Burgdorff who was the district sales manager for the company was appointed.
In the same factory Bollstrom was in, a new company moved in called Par-Kar which built busses and began operations in 1922. It is unclear if Ruggles had a part in this business. Later the Detroiter Mobile Home Corporation moved in and eventually had more than 2000 employees. It went on to become one of the largest mobile home manufacturers in the country.
references
Richard Apps-Personal Collection
Trailer Topics Magaziine-January 1960
St. Louis Downtown Historic District
St. Louis Area Historical District
Cheboygan Democrat-June 1920
Motor Age-Volume 27-1915/Volume 20
Commercial Car Journal-Dec-1920
The Alma Record-1919/1920
Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record-1920/1921
Motor Record-September-1921
Chiltons Motor Age-Volume 40-1921
United States Patent Office
The Motor Truck-1921
Automotive Industries-Volume 40/44
Advertising and Selling With The Advertising News-Volume 22
