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Mr. Swab was a blacksmith by trade, and in the early years he repaired wagons, wagon wheels, and harnesses for farmers in the area. He often worked in the fields to pay for the lumber and other materials needed for his small business.
In December of 1868, the entry appears in Mr. Swab’s ledger “Making a sleigh”. This sleigh was sold to a Daniel Matter for the sum of $10.00. This was the apparent beginning of the manufacturing operation.
By 1899, the average output was five wagons a day, and in 1902, the company was incorporated with capital of $50,000.
Ninety years ago the company advertised “Wagons That Wear,” a phrase that still applies today, thanks to Jonas Swab’s own invention, the “Chilled Box Solid Steel Axle”. As Mr. Swab wrote to prospective wagon owners in 1910, “Thirty years ago I conceived the idea that if the wearing surface of the spindles of a wagon could be chilled or hardened like the point of a chilled plow, it would add much to the wearing and lasting qualities of my output and make an easier running wagon”. Mr. Swab was correct, and his customers agreed with him. There has never been a report of a Swab axle wearing out.
Early manufacturing included hub and wheel wagons of various types: Two and four horse wagons (such as the one pictured at the top of the page), drag and timber wagons, covered platform spring wagons (such as the one pictured at left), butcher, ice, baker, berry, fruit delivery and “pleasure” wagons, dump and farm carts and wheelbarrows.
Swab Wagon Works also produced sleighs and one third size “Jr.” hand wagons for children. Many of these wagons and wheelbarrows still survive today and are sought after by collectors. An original Swab Wagon in nice condition can sell for several thousand dollars at auction. Swab Wagon Company has even managed to keep several of these wagons.
With the advent of the motorized vehicle, the company began the transition from horse drawn wagons to motor truck bodies and equipment. Alongside of the wagons that were being produced, Swab also started producing bodies for early trucks (such as the truck pictured at right), which served many of the same purposes that the wagons were used for. Note the similarities in body design of the spring wagon pictured above and the delivery truck pictured at right.
In 1916, Swab made the decision to enter the automobile business themselves. In the early years of the operation, Swab sold Saxon, Chevrolet, Plymouth and Studebaker cars and trucks, such as the 1917 Studebaker “Big 6” Touring shown at left. After several years, Swab elected to continue with only the Studebaker line. Studebaker, who also got their start in producing wagons, later merged with the Packard Corporation in 1954, marking the arrival of the Packard line to Swab’s dealership. Several years later, Studebaker-Packard secured the rights to distribute Mercedes-Benz cars in the U.S., and thus Swab Wagon Co. added the Mercedes-Benz nameplate to its showroom. Swab president, Jonas Margerum (who remained Swab president until his passing at age 89 in 1998), foresaw the demise of Studebaker and in 1960, Swab obtained a Chrysler-Plymouth franchise. Swab continued to sell Studebakers up until 1966, the year the last Studebaker rolled off the assembly line. Swab Wagon Co. was a Studebaker dealer for exactly 50 years, and sold and serviced Chrysler, Plymouth, and Dodge cars and trucks until May 2003 when the Dealership was closed.
In 1889 the Reliance Hose Company of Elizabethville was founded, and Jonas Swab was a charter member. The following year, he and his brother, Aaron, who ran the Swab Carriage Company, a subsidiary of Swab Wagon Works, delivered to the Fire Company their first piece of fire apparatus. This hose cart, which the Fire Company still has in their possession and sees regular parade duty, is noted to be the oldest piece of American-made mobile fire equipment produced by a family-owned, continuously-operated manufacturer. Pictured is Reliance Hose Company’s 1890 Hose Cart, being transported by Swab Wagon Company’s 2024 Ford F-450 Shop Truck with custom aluminum Swab Model ASB-134 stake body.
In 1937, Swab made its first venture into motorized fire emergency vehicles with its first squad body. Swab produced a number of fire emergency vehicles during the 1940’s and 1950’s, including this 1957 1250 Gal. Swab tanker body built on a Studebaker chassis. As you will read below, our invention of the Type I Modular Ambulance in 1963 was the breakthrough into higher-volume fire/emergency equipment production.
Aside from the car business, Swab’s manufacturing business continued to grow despite a period of peril. In the post-depression years of the 1930s, Swab Wagon Co. was on the verge of bankruptcy. However, Jonas Swab’s grandson, Jonas “J.B.” Margerum, took over the company in 1932, and through his efforts, Swab Wagon survived and continued to grow into the company it is today.
Between the early 1930’s and 1960’s, Swab continued to produce a variety of commercial truck bodies, including buses, poultry transportation bodies, refrigerated delivery bodies (such as the truck shown at left), and other custom “one-off” truck bodies. This particular truck was built for Yuengling’s Ice Cream, owned by the same Yuengling family of the D.G. Yuengling Brewery. Located in Pottsville, Pennsylvania (about 20 miles from Elizabethville), Yuengling is the oldest brewery in the United States.
Two of Swab’s greatest design concepts occurred in 1963 and 1973, both of which were to revolutionize their respective fields.
In 1963, Swab designed and built what is now known as the Type I ambulance body (shown at right). This was the first of its kind ever made by any manufacturer. Before this time, ambulances were limited to station wagon conversions which simply served the purpose of transporting the patient to the hospital. Swab’s new ambulance was termed the “operating room on wheels,” for it allowed paramedics to perform medical procedures on the patient while in route to the hospital. The new ambulance design launched Swab Wagon Co. into the forefront of the ambulance manufacturing industry. Orders for the new Swab ambulances poured in, and by 1974, Swab had delivered their 300th ambulance. The success of the ambulance also help to shift Swab’s focus to fire emergency business. The year 1974 also saw the production of the 100th Swab rescue truck. Swab’s historic first ambulance has been preserved in its original condition.
Swab’s other great design was its first fiberglass animal transport body in 1973. The original design was the ARF-12, for it had 12 animal compartments. The ARF-4 and ARF-5 designs (four compartments and five compartments, respectively) followed shortly thereafter. The ARF-5 was re-designed in 1995, which is now the ARF-95. The 100th copy of the ARF-95 was delivered in the summer of 1998, just three years after it went on sale. Swab developed the ALSF-96 in 1996. This body offers first response medic organizations a cost effective alternative to expensive SUV conversions. The ALSF-96 has since been renamed the “Pioneer Series,” and has proven to be one of Swab’s most popular trucks.
The year 2001 saw the introduction of the Skidder light-duty brush/rescue series of truck bodies. The concept for these bodies was to offer an alternative to an off-the-shelf, mass-produced utility body for mid-sized chassis, such as the Ford F-550. The Skidder offered customers custom compartment configurations with roll-up compartment doors. By this time in the fire industry, roll-up compartment doors had largely replaced traditional hinged, slam-shut doors, which made the Skidder body much more appealing to the fire service than a regular utility body.
Today, Swab’s fire equipment offerings comprise the production of new custom rescue, air/light, squad, and brush bodies, as well as the Pioneer series fiberglass medic units. We also build many custom aluminum utility bodies for water authorities and gas utilities. Our ARF-95 fiberglass animal rescue bodies continue to be distributed throughout the United States and capture a substantial share of that market. We also build a limited number of animal transport van units. Swab also specializes in the repair and refurbishment of all makes of fire apparatus, and also emergency vehicle up-fits.
Having survived the Great Depression and a 1978 fire that destroyed Swab’s main offices and production plant, Swab Wagon Company soldiers on. We are America’s oldest family-owned, continuously-operated manufacturer of mobile fire equipment.
