Hoopes Brothers & Darlington, Inc. records
Creation: 1868-1967Abstract
Hoopes Brothers & Darlington was a firm that produced wooden wheels. It was founded by brothers Thomas Hoopes (1834-1925) and William Hoopes (1830-1917) on their farm about a mile northwest of West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1866. Initially, they manufactured spokes for wagon wheels from local timber. In 1869, they established a factory in West Chester proper and, within three years, were manufacturing complete wooden wheels. In time the firm became the largest establishment of its kind east of the Allegheny Mountains. The records of Hoopes Brothers & Darlington, Inc. are relatively complete and give a full picture of the firm during its peak years in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Dates
- Creation: 1868-1967
Creator
- Hoopes Brothers & Darlington, Inc. (Organization)
Extent
29 Linear Feet
Historical Note
Hoopes Brothers & Darlington was a firm that produced wooden wheels. It was founded by brothers Thomas Hoopes (1834-1925) and William Hoopes (1830-1917) on their farm about a mile northwest of West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1866. Initially, they manufactured spokes for wagon wheels from local timber. In 1869, they established a factory in West Chester proper and, within three years, were manufacturing complete wooden wheels. In time the firm became the largest establishment of its kind east of the Allegheny Mountains.
By 1893, the firm was producing 40,000 sets of wheels per year. In 1898, it installed an automatic bending machine. At its peak, the factory employed between 175 and 200 workers. As the automobile began to replace horse-drawn vehicles, the company moved into the production of wooden-spoked car wheels, but around 1920 it refused to convert to the manufacture of steel-rimmed wheels. The company continued to occupy a specialty niche, relying in part on its proximity to Amish communities, where carriages were still common. It remained a small family business, most notable for being the last wooden wheel manufacturer in America. The firm was down to seventeen employees by 1972, and closed in the mid-1970s. It also tried to expand into the manufacture of skis, toboggans, and baseball bats.
Scope and Contents
The records of Hoopes Brothers & Darlington, Inc. are relatively complete and give a full picture of the firm during its peak years in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The collection is arranged in thirteen series: Administrative records; General accounts; Production; Payroll; Sales; Wheel orders; Advertising; Machine shop orders, machinery, equipment, and plant maintenance; Purchase and receiving; Inventories; Shipping records; Correspondence; and Miscellany.
Administrative records series include minutes of the directors' and stockholders' meetings from 1903 to 1959, a trademark certificate (1938), and an auditor's report (1941).
General accounts series include statements of stock on hand and statistics on yearly profit and loss, monthly sales, dividends, and taxes. They also document the costs and expenses of machinery, along with papers relating to time-and-motion studies made during the late 1940s.
Production records series include pattern record books, instructions for turning spokes, a notebook with printed broadsides, specifications, drawings, and prices (1927-1933). It also contains orders for sports equipment.
Payroll records series include time books and payroll sheets and analysis of machinists' time cards, primarily from 1869 to 1914, with some data from the 1920s through the 1950s. There is also an employee compensation and insurance record (1911-1935).
Sales records series consist of petty sales books and sales journals.
Wheels orders series, though incomplete, cover the period from 1872 to 1934 and include both wagon and automobile wheels.
The Advertising series includes a mailing list book and a scrapbook of advertisements (1922-1934).
Machine shop orders, machinery, equipment, and plant maintenance records series include machine shop and machinists' orders; machinery and equipment books; logbooks of purchases; inventories of stock on hand; inventories of machinery and tools; and a record book of consignments (1880).
Correspondence series includes general outbound letterbooks (1879-1925, incomplete); correspondence relating to patents; correspondence with London agents Pfeil, Stedall & Son; and the personal and business correspondence of Edward S. Darlington.
The Miscellany series includes diaries with miscellaneous notes dating from 1869 to 1975; calendars; trade catalogs; price lists; customer file cards; and a pencil drawing of the firm's factory.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions on access; this collection is open for research.
Language of Materials
English
Additional Description
Provenance
Gift from Chester County Historical Center, West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Subjects
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- Hoopes Brothers & Darlington, Inc. records
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2023: Peyton Cleary and Diane E. Bockrath
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
