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In 1919 Riddle Coach and Hearse became the Riddle Manufacturing Company. They had big plans, but in the end decided that the risk of expansion was too much and the company closed in 1926.
This article appeared in the local paper on Dec 4, 1919.
The Local Industry
Expands
The citizens of Ravenna have had
many reasons to feel proud of the
great increase of industries that
have located or are about to locate
in this city but none have created
the intense degree of satisfaction as
the announcement that the Riddle
Coach and Hearse Company will materially increase its facilities.
This company, the outgrowth of H.
W. Riddle's genius put Ravenna on
the commercial map many years ago
and its product has won a nation
wide demand.
It is consequently a self evident
fact that the growth of the company should be coincident with the
growth of the nation and that fact
is what has induced outside capital
assisted by local experience to invest in the business with the intention to push it to the fullest possible
extent.
Papers for the new incorporation
have been filed with the Secretary
of State at Columbus and call for a
capitalization of $1,000,000. The organizers not only propose to develop
the manufacture of funeral cars but
will also engage in the building of
limousines to carry the pall bearers
and the members of the family and
friends but ultimately will manufacture custom made bodies for all
makes of automobiles. It has become increasingly popular for the
owners of cars to have bodies of
their own design and selection
placed on their cars and this idea
promises unlimited possibilities for
a management as experienced as the
Riddle Coach and Hearse Company in
body building.
The new company will be known
as the Riddle Manufacturing Co., and
will take over the business of the
Riddle Coach and Hearse Company
with capital on hand sufficient to
buy in quantities and thus be able
to compete in body building with any
of the companies specializing in that
line.
Local men represented in the
new organization are C. G. Bentley,
president of the Second Nat ional bank
who will be president of the company, H. W. Riddle Jr. who has grown
up in the business with the Coach
Co., will be vice president and
George H. Robinson for thirty-four
years associated with the Coach
company and knowing He business
from the ground up will be secretary,
treasurer and business manager.
The new capital in the company
are E. W. Aument of Grand Rapids,
Mich., and W. C. Thornburg and L. B.
Tucker of Toledo, men well known in
blocks of stock in the enterprise.
The change in ownership also involves a change in location. The
present buildings of the Riddle
Coach and Hearse Co., are not nearly large enough to accommodate the
proposed expansion of the company
and besides they are to far from
suitable railroad connections.
Modern business methods calling
for the highest business efficiency
demands railroads facilities and a
site will be chosen alongside one of
our railroads.
Plans are still to be worked out
in detail but there is every promise
that building construction will be
commenced next spring.