05/28/2026
When you're stuck behind that UPS truck today, think of this:
Shipman, Bradt & Co. manufactured wagons in DeKalb, started in 1882 by Samuel E. Bradt (1861-1938) Charles E. Bradt (1852-1932) and Madison D. Shipman (1848-1915). (On December 23, 1890, Samuel Bradt married Bertha McConnell Glidden).
The wagon they innovated and their important improvements to it would later be incorporated into the underlying structures of modern delivery trucks.
They first specialized in wagons for heavy stock and piano moving. This expertise drove their numerous innovations, their “success with these specialties encouraged them to push their experiments on a complete line of delivery wagons especially adapted to the different trades.” Their enhancements centered on improving the ways that a full, heavily loaded wagon handled. “The distinctive features of these wagons is the practical harmonizing of the contradictory principles of low-down, short-turn, with full height in the wheels,” they explained. “As a result they have perfected a line adapted to groceries, hardware, piano and organ dealers, bakers, butchers, laundrymen, and milkmen.”
This company was run by the same men until 1892, when Samuel Bradt partnered with others. In 1904, the new leaders moved the business to Sycamore, Illinois and changed the name to Sycamore Wagon Works. The business returned to DeKalb in 1911. The enterprise finally began to build trucks and settled on the name DeKalb Commercial Body and survived through the 1960s.
