by Gary Hoover | May 1, 2022 | Articles, Newsletters, Transportation
We can learn much about the history and evolution of technology, business, geography, fashions, and design by studying the advertising materials of companies. The passenger transportation industries have produced some of the most vivid posters, ads, and...
by Gary Hoover | Nov 25, 2021 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
Sandor Herz was born in or near Vrutky, Austria-Hungary (now Slovakia) on April 10, 1879, the oldest of the six children of Jakob and Katie Herz. When he was three years old, the family emigrated to America, and by 1884, at the age of five, young Sandor (now...
by Gary Hoover | Nov 4, 2021 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Many management scholars consider Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. as the greatest business leader in American history. If we exclude company founders, Sloan has few...
by Gary Hoover | Oct 8, 2021 | Articles, Newsletters, Transportation
Henry Ford was happy to sell you a Model T in any color you wanted, as long as it was black. Yet few know the real story of his exclusion of color, or how we came to have colorful automobiles. Ford Model T, first introduced in 1908 Today, cars come in every...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 5, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Data, Data, Other Industries, Transportation
In the twentieth century, no industry created more giant American companies than the petroleum industry. In 1917, big oil represented six of the fifty largest American companies. By 1955, eleven oil companies made the top fifty industrial firms in Fortune...
by Gary Hoover | Aug 21, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Consumer Products, Transportation
There are an estimated one billion bicycles in the world today, almost half of them in China and another one hundred million in the United States. About one hundred million new ones are manufactured each year, over half in China and many others in Taiwan, around...
by Gary Hoover | Jul 21, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Foodservice and Lodging, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters, Transportation
Today we republish an excerpt from the book I wrote twenty-one years ago, including some short but sweet diverse business history stories. The original has been slightly edited and we have added a few more pictures. (The complete book, expanded but only available as...
by Gary Hoover | Jul 4, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Other Industries, Technology, Transportation
On this 4th of July, it is appropriate to honor the long history of one of America’s great companies. Elisha Otis perfected the first commercially successful elevators, both for freight and passengers, before the Civil War. The organization he founded, the...
by Gary Hoover | Jun 25, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Foodservice and Lodging, Newsletters, Transportation
In the nineteenth century, restaurants were patronized by the wealthy and by travelers (at stagecoach stops, inns, and on trains and in train stations). Most workers brought their lunch from home. Over time, especially in cities, diners had more options....
by Gary Hoover | Apr 8, 2021 | Articles, Newsletters, Transportation
On March 21, 2021, the Canadian Pacific Railroad announced that it was buying the Kansas City Southern Railroad for $25 billion. To understand the strategic and geographic implications of this very important business deal, we must first go back in time. ...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 21, 2021 | Articles, Biographies, Transportation
Written before we founded the American Business History Center, this post is more relevant than ever. In 1937, 24-year old Malcolm McLean (later changed to Malcom) delivered a load from the south to the New Jersey docks for export. He had been in the trucking business...
by Gary Hoover | Dec 18, 2020 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Other Industries, Transportation
Every state has a fascinating history, including the role of business and entrepreneurship. The swamp that was much of Florida did not develop until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Two men, both named Henry, were perhaps the most important in that...
by Gary Hoover | Nov 7, 2020 | Articles, Articles, Newsletters, Technology, Transportation
Business history is full of stories of “disruptors” and “disruption,” especially with regard to new technologies (as well as new ways of retailing, lodging, dining, transportation, journalism, and other fields). Many books have been written on innovation, how it...
by Gary Hoover | Jun 11, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. The year 1921 was one of the worst years in the history of the American automobile business. Many companies folded in a brief but severe post-war recession as prices dropped...
by Gary Hoover | May 29, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
This week we present another very brief “bullet point biography.” A classic story of shattered dreams. At the American Business History Center, we focus our energies on those companies (and their founders and leaders) which became household names or large...
by Gary Hoover | Apr 24, 2020 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters, Transportation
Over the last two years or so, we in conjunction with the Archbridge Institute have produced a series of “long-form” biographies of great entrepreneurs. Each of these runs five to seven thousand words and takes twenty to thirty minutes to read. In this...
by Gary Hoover | Feb 6, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Few industries have had a greater impact on the world than our airline system. This global network was built over a period of forty years by a handful of leaders who...
by Gary Hoover | Dec 12, 2019 | Articles, Newsletters, Transportation
The routes travelled by explorers, immigrants, peddlers, and goods are a critical part of history. There would be no business or commercial history without the Silk Road or the great transoceanic shipping lanes. Here is a great story about the evolution of...
by Gary Hoover | Nov 7, 2019 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products, Newsletters, Other Industries
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Outside of the field of product and transportation design, too few people know who Raymond Loewy was. The best-known industrial designer, founder of the industrial...
by Gary Hoover | Oct 4, 2019 | Articles, Newsletters, Transportation
I grew up in Anderson, Indiana, which played a special role in the development of America’s original high speed all-electric railroads, the interurbans. Here is a quick look at that story, which reflects one man’s obsession with a new technology, perhaps with...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 12, 2019 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Articles, Biographies, Business in General, Foodservice and Lodging, Other Industries
This article first appeared on June 24, 2019 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. Despite being often forgotten today, Henry J. Kaiser was one of the most unusual and diverse entrepreneurs in American history. Quitting school at...
by Gary Hoover | Aug 7, 2019 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
This article first appeared on May 2, 2019 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. The American railroad system played a critical role in the growth and development of the United States, especially the opening of the western frontier. The...
by Gary Hoover | Jun 26, 2019 | Articles, Data, Transportation
Few industries have had more impact on American society (and workers) than the auto industry. The famous “Big Three” of General Motors (GM), Ford, and Chrysler evolved from hundreds of small carmakers, a pattern seen in many industries to this day. The...
by Gary Hoover | Jun 13, 2019 | Articles, Newsletters, Transportation
Last weekend, aerospace giant United Technologies announced that they were doing a “merger of equals” with fellow industry leader Raytheon. According to most estimates, this will create the second largest aerospace and defense company (after Boeing), leaping...
by Gary Hoover | Jun 3, 2019 | Articles, Newsletters, Transportation
Earlier this week, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (“FCA”), technically a Dutch Company, proposed a marriage with the seriously-French automaker Renault. Initial investor reaction to the marriage was strong. If the deal is approved by shareholders and...
by Gary Hoover | Mar 8, 2019 | Articles, Transportation
Originally published on Hooversworld.com on September 30, 2015 Now that’s an interesting question. I look forward to your candidates. I was recently stunned when I went to look up the fellow, whose story follows below, on Wikipedia, only to find no one had...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 28, 2018 | Articles, Biographies, Transportation
This article first appeared on May 31, 2017 on Hooversworld.com. Who is the greatest active American Entrepreneur? My students usually suggest the names of the founders of the new generation of Internet companies, names that are continuously in the news. ...
by Gary Hoover | May 24, 2018 | Articles, Biographies, Transportation
This article first appeared on May 24, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. These days the news and chatter on the Internet are filled with stories of Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. In this environment,...
by Dave Stanwick | May 15, 2018 | Articles, Biographies, Transportation
This article first appeared on May 15, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. There are stories that take tragedy to unearth. When the world bears witness to great ability, new awareness changes the narrative of...