Logan

In response to conversation I have had on Facebook, I am transposing the text of an article published in January, 1955 in a magazine named Ohio Motor Travel:

The Story of Benny Gramm... Pioneer auto and truck builder Story by Floyd A. Brown

October 29, 1904 marked an important event in Chillicothe - it was Open House at the newly incorporated Logan Construction Company, manufacturers of the Logan automobile.

Chillicothe newspapers carried a full front page including several pictures, estimating the crowd at between 7000 and 8000 people. Between the hours of 5 and 9 p.m., with the Odd Fellows Band in attendance, the multitude streamed through the three floors of the newly-renovated building and marveled at the well lighted, up-to-date working quarters, and the latest machinery for producing the Logan, which at the moment was enjoying a meteoric rise in popularity.

The story of the Logan does not however begin at this moment. One must go back to the year 1886 when a young boy of 14, Benny Gramm by name, started as a messenger boy at the First National Bank, Chillicothe, Ohio.

During the years that followed, the young man's mind was constantly toying with the idea of a horseless carriage, which he some day hoped to build. Benny had plenty of vision.

As the year 1890 approached, the brain child was taking shape and with the help of an adding machine he urged President Alex Renick to purchase, cash was balanced earlier. Work completed, Gramm would rush home and devote the remainder of his working hours to his "first love."

Like another young man, a contemporary by the name of Henry Ford, Gramm also had an old building at the rear of his residence at 85 W. Fifth Street, where he worked long and late. Ford was nine years older than Gramm and both were born on the same date, July 30.

About the turn of the century, Gramm's first "horseless wagon" appeared on the streets of Chillicothe. There were always those who yelled "get a horse" and some who bought these "new fangled contraptions" did actually go back to horses. But on the whole, enough orders were coming to warrant Mr. Gramm's decision to resign from the bank so that he might devote all his time to his new venture.

About this time, 1901 to be exact, the late Dr. W. A. Hall, a local physician, ordered a steam automobile. It was manufactured by the Conrad Motor Carriage Company of Buffalo, N. Y., and arrived in Chillicothe unassembled. Benny Gramm uncrated the parts and had the good doctor making calls in amazing time, 15 miles per hour. Dr. Hall later became a stockholder and director in the Logan Company.

With still more orders, a new building was built on South Walnut Street, now the Herlihy Storage, and the business took a name, The Motor Storage and Manufacturing Company. The Hertz-Rental system isn not new for even at this time, the concern featured "rental cars for all occasions."

An "electric wagon" was built about 1902, but gasoline propelled cars and trucks were adopted as standard, although Mr. Gramm always expressed that the electric would come back some day.

Gramm's technical mind finally produced the "power take off" and he was granted a patent on this device in 1903. Tests were held at the Ross County Fair that year with one of Gramm's trucks operating a clover huller. The "multiple disk clutch," his idea also, came next, patents from which he never recieved royalties. It was at the Fair also that Benny's roadster made the fastest time on the track and was awarded a gold medal.

Sales continued to such a degree that new quarters had to be found, and the answer was the purchase of the old Woodcock Foundry on East Second Street, just recently razed to make way for a super market.

Incorporation came at the same time, and the Logan Construction Company came into being in 1903, the late John A. Poland drawing up the incorporation papers. Investors were many of the leading business men of Chillicothe who, knowing him from his association with the bank, had confidence in his integrity. The late George H. Smith called Mr. Gramm to his office, and presenting a check for three thousand dollars for stock stated, "Now you can exhibit at the New York Show."

The Logan line at the show was completely sold out, and Mr. Gramm came home with many orders. Logan cars and trucks were now being delivered all over the east and midwest. Large cities were using busses mounted on Logan chassis, several such busses were shipped to the Phillippine Islands, and two trucks , the first to be exported from the United States, left the Logan plant for China. Prospective buyers came to the factory and after a purchase would take the car home, in most cases, the factory supplying the driver. Very few people in those days could operate a motor vehicle.

Jake Breiel, now residing in Michigan, accompanied many such buyers home and taught them the fundamentals of motor car operation and care. Breakdowns ant tire trouble caused its share of the motorists' national headache in those days, and Mr. Breiel was kept busy delivering parts and tires to waiting motorists regardless of distance. Many times Mr. Breiel represented the Logan Company at auto shows in New York, St. Louis, Chicago, Washington D. C., and other eastern cities.

Wayne O'Bryant, who still operates an auto repair shop recieved his early training in motors at the Logan plant.

Hill climbing exhibitions toke place on Carlisle Hill. Each Logan was copelled to climb this hill three times before shipment. Wauyne being one of the official "testers" recalls that many times the added weight of an extra mechanic brought failure to the hill climbing ordeal.

Wayne represented Logan at many auto shows such as Chigago and New York, and made deliveries of new cars and trucks. While in St. Louis instructing the driver of the truck purchased by the Blanc-Wittinger Wholesale Candy Company, the ground work was laid for the really big sale that was to come.

The first fleet shipment of trucks in Ameriva happened here when the St. Louis Post Dispatch purchased 28 light delivery trucks, all equipped with Firestone tires. The trucks were backed up to the curb in front of the Court House and then were paraded to the depot for shipment. The late Lou Bierley was one of the drivers who travelled to St. Louis to teach the operators of this new delivery service.

The Chicago Motor Dispatch, a parcel delivery service, ordered 2o 12-horsepower light delivery trucks. E. P. Blake, an agent for Logan cars an trucks in Boston, sold $24,500 worth of orders during the Boston Show.

The 1906 catalogue appeared, printed on richly embossed paper, with the profile of Chief Logan on the cover, rivaled by his "red brother" General Motors' Pontiac of today.

Both air cooled and water cooled, four cylinder cars and trucks were featured ranging in price from $900 to $2000. Many types of body styles were available.

The Logan was not an assembled car like many others of that period. The plant had its own body shop where both the passenger and truck units, even the wood wheels, were designed and built. Cylinders were machined and gears were cut in an up-to-date foundry.

The Oscar Lear Motor Company, located at Fourth and Gay Streets, Columbus, Ohio, was building an air cooled car dcalled the "Frayer-Miller." Incidentally, Eddie Rickenbacker was then working at the plant learning the mechanics of auto engines. The Columbus plant contracted with Logan to build bodies for their cars, and in turn Logan was to use the cooling system designed for Frayer Miller. This same cooling process was later used on the Franklin automobile after the local plant ceased operations.

The success of the Company was undisputed. Its growth in just a few years was phenomenal. Even Ford hadn't enjoyed such great acceptance. But Fate in the form of the panic of 1907, (today we call such things recessions), entered the picture.

In spite of Mr. Gramm's pleas, the stockholders voted a receivership and the Logan Construction Company was just another victim.

One of the factors which helped greatly in the Company's failure was the excessive inventory. Experiments would show that a certain design or part was incorrect, maybe an axle too light or a gear too large. The purchasing agent had, however, bought in carload lots instead of small quantities and the stock of discarded parts mounted.

While liquidation was in progress, Frank Lamb, a Logan owner from Bowling Green, Ohio, passing through Chillicothe, called at the old plant. Hearing of Mr. Gramm's plight, Lamb informed him of an excellent location in Bowling Green for just such an industry. Gramm visited the scene and within forty-eight hours, stock was subscribed and the new Company, The Gramm-Logan Company was formed. This was the finale for the Logan as a passenger car for the Company decided to devote its entire line to trucks.

In 1909, 1910 and 1911, trucks were shipped to China, Australia and Russia, a six percent dividend was paid to stockholders and $145,000 placed in surplus. Mr. Gramm was invited to exhibit the first truck chassis ever shown at the World's International Convention of Wagon Builders at Washington, D. C. He addressed the group on the subject of "The Motor Truck and Its Relation to the Wagon Builder." The word "Logan" was finally dropped and the company became the Gramm Motor Truck Company.

Business men, headed by Mr. White of Lima Locomotive Company, hearing of the enterprising new plant persuaded the company to move to Lima. A new factory was built to double the size of the Company. Mr. White became presidnent and after a time sold his interest to John N. Willys of Willys-Overland. Overland dealers were to sell Gramm trucks along with passenger cars. Mr. Gramm did not relish this new idea and sold his stock. Willys eventually arranged a consolidation of the Garford Motor Truck Company with Overland, but Garford...

And that's were the story that I have ends. The copy I have says that the text continues on page 15. As a side note, the Garford Motor Truck Company mentioned in this article was based in Elyria and made chassis to order for Studebaker of South Bend, Indiana before being absorbed by Willys-Overland in 1912. If one were to follow the convoluted interconnection of motor manufacturers a century ago, it could be said that the Logan is a distant cousin to today's Jeep.

Pretty good company, eh?

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