Lobdell Car Wheel Company was a producer of cast railroad car wheels in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1830 by Jonathon Bonney (1797-1838) and machinist Charles Bush (1805-1855), the firm originally functioned as a foundry and machine shop. After Bonney's death in 1838, Bush partnered with his nephew, George Granville Lobdell (1817-1894), and started Bush & Lobdell. The company specialized in the manufacture of cast railroad car wheels, and a new foundry was constructed in 1844. Bush died in 1855, and Lobdell bought out Bush's heirs in 1859.

The Lobdell Car Wheel Company was organized in the spring of 1867. An entirely new plant was built on the Christiana River in south Wilmington in 1881-1882, giving the firm one of the largest car wheel factories in the world. In 1880, Lobdell purchased three cold-blast charcoal iron furnaces in southwestern Virginia to insure a constant supply of raw materials. The firm also manufactured chilled rolls for paper machines and flour mills as well as chilled railroad rails. It eventually became the world's largest manufacturer of railroad car wheels, grossing $585,000 annually. The firm went out of business in the 1950s.

Michael John Munroe (1879-1969) was an employee of Lobdell Car Wheel Company and Wilmington, Delaware native. He began at Lobdell as an apprentice roller on paper machinery when he was a teenager, work he described as "hard, rough, and dirty." He stayed at the company most of his life, retiring in 1949 after fifty years of service.

In 1912, Munroe married Mary Frieda Dettling (1887-1965). The couple had one son, Dr. John Andrew Munroe (1914-2006).