Clement Studebaker
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| Clement Studebaker |
|---|
| Born |
| March 12 1831 Pinetown, Pennsylvania, United States |
Clement Studebaker (1831-1901) was one of the brothers who founded what eventually became the Studebaker Corporation, an early manufacturer of automobiles.
Clement's early education was sporadic at best. By the age of 14, he was working in his father's blacksmith shop, where he shoed horses and occasionally built Conestoga-type wagons. When nearly 20, he moved in the autumn of 1850 to South Bend, Indiana. Saving money from working as a teacher and a blacksmith, he set up his own blacksmith business with his older brother Henry in 1852.
The company continued to prosper, largely due to contracts to supply wagons to the Army both in 1857 and during the American Civil War. Being raised in the Old German Baptist Brethren faith, Henry found it difficult to reconcile his pacifistic beliefs with providing supplies to soldiers. He eventually sold his share of the company to brother John Mohler.
Clement continued to build the business into a company that would boast it was the largest horse-drawn vehicle manufacturer in the world. In addition to wagons, buggies and carriages were produced by the company and considered to be among the finest built in the country. By 1870, there were four Studebaker brothers heading various departments of the company, with Clement as its president. The company produced no fewer than thirty types of horse-drawn vehicles and had annual sales of more than $3 million by the 1890s.
In May 1901, Clement traveled to the spa at Aix-les-Bains in southern France to recuperate from poor health. He remained until autumn. Upon his return to the United States, he stumbled disembarking from the ship, from which he did not recover. He died at his home in South Bend on November 27, 1901.
Tippecanoe Place mansion
Image:South-bend-indiana-tippecanoe-place.jpg Tippecanoe Place, Clement Studebaker's home, with four main levels totaling 40 rooms and 20 fireplaces, is the embodiment of everything great wealth in the late 1800's could suggest. The 26,000 square-foot mansion was designed by Henry Cobb and built by local craftsmen. Work on Tippecanoe Place was completed in 1889 at a total cost of $250,000.
The massive walls are made of local granite fieldstone, and the many broad porches are paved with tile and supported by stone pillars. A flight of stone steps at the main entrance leads into the mahogany paneled vestibule. The decorative carvings on the oval doorknobs exemplify the great attention to detail throughout the entire house.
The mansion, however, was to be more than simply a monument to the architecture and craftsmanship of the period. It would serve as the setting for many lavish parties, weddings, and balls.
Sources
- Crystal, David, ed. The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia. 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
- Garraty, John A. and Mark C. Carnes, eds. American National Biography. Vol. 21. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.