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107:(1907), individual automatic watering bowls for cows (1912), an Easy Feeding Hog Trough (1914), and an industrial line of Overhead Carrying Equipment (1917). Albert H. Neller, who has been described as William Louden's "right-hand-man," is also credited with developing a number of products, including the automatic watering bowls, and with being a key to the company's success during the 1910s and 1920s. The company also expanded geographically opening branches in Canada (1900), Minneapolis (1903), Albany, New York (1912), and Chicago (1915). By 1915, the factory in Fairfield employed 100 men, and the company operated another large factory in
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191:. William's grandson, William L. Fry, served as the firm's president general manager from 1956 to 1963. In 1965, Louden's line of farm equipment was discontinued. Louden's overhead handling equipment continued to operate and became the Crane & Monorail Systems Division of American Chain and Cable Company (ACCO). Acco-Louden continues to manufacture overhead monorail conveying equipment.
137:
more than 25,000 barns by 1939. The department also published a catalog of barn plans, including round barns, that was published in multiple editions in the first half of the 20th century. Architects employed by the Louden
Architecture Department include Edward C. Peterkie (1879-1940), Guy A. Carpenter, C. Eugene Fleming, The Architecture Department ceased operations in approximately 1947.
164:, the company reached record production levels, fueled by demand for the company's overhead handling equipment, including the improved Louden "Super Track" monorail systems. Military applications of Louden Monorail included its application for material handling devices used in the manufacture of uranium for the first atomic bomb at
114:
The company continued to expand its product line in the 1920s and 1930s, adding a wide array of products, including barn cupolas, exhaust and intake hoods and louvers, fans, valves, pulleys, power hoists, concrete mangers, a patented garage door hanger (using overhead door tracks for ease in opening
136:
for the president of Deere & Co., as well as several barns that have been listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. The Architecture Department also designed specialized dairy barns, horse stables, hog and chicken houses, and farmstead sites. The company reported that it had planned
85:
of the 1870s, he continued manufacturing hay carriers through the 1880s. In 1887, William Louden and his wife Mary Jane formed Louden
Machinery Company. Younger brother Robert B. "R.B." Louden (1857-1939) joined the company in 1889 and became the company's president when it incorporated in 1892.
183:
William Louden died in 1931, and Robert B. Louden followed in 1939. William's son, Robert Bruce Louden, took over as the company's president following the death of Robert B. Louden and continued to hold that position until his death in 1952. Arthur Clare Louden, another son of
William, served as
131:
In 1906, the company established an
Architectural Department, sometimes referred to as the Louden Planning Service or the Barn Plan Department, began offering free "barn planning service." The company's architects designed barns "to promote more efficient use of space and labor saving devices,"
106:
The company expanded in the 1890s and 1900s, with R.B. handling the business side, William being left free to invent new products. William added to the company's product line with his inventions of a flexible barn door hanger (1895), barn litter carriers and tracks (1898), all-steel cow stalls
76:
The company was founded by
William Louden (1841-1931). Louden was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Iowa as an infant. After attending Axline University in Fairfield, he became a teacher. In 1867, he invented a patented hay carrier that made two-story barns practical. According to one
149:, Louden's monorail litter carrier was adapted to industrial uses, including the manufacture of ammunition. By the 1920s, the company earned much of its revenue from industrial applications of Louden Monorail to carry equipment in factories of companies such as
157:. The company also established a Louden Engineers division to design custom adaptations of Louden Monorail in a variety of contexts, including factories, foundries, industrial dipping machines, clothing handling, bales of cotton, motion picture lighting.
80:
In 1868, he opened his first shop to manufacture his hay carriers. In 1868, Louden moved his manufacturing operation to
Fairfield where it operated under the name Louden Manufacturing Works. Despite setbacks resulting in his bankruptcy during the
20:
55:. These sites include the company's 1892 manufacturing facility in downtown Fairfield, several homes in and around Fairfield, and a number of barns in Iowa, Ohio and Michigan that were designed by the company's Architecture Department.
48:, Louden's monorail equipment carrier began to be applied to industrial and military applications. By the 1920s, much of the company's revenues were derived from industrial applications of its monorail equipment carriers.
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263:(1925), Fairfield Golf & County Club Grounds, 905 E. Harrison Ave., Fairfield, Iowa ("whirl-around" playground equipment designed by Louden Machinery Company located on the grounds of country club), NRHP-listed
43:
that he invented in 1867. The company later expanded into a wide variety of farm equipment and, in 1906, began an
Architecture Department that reportedly designed more than 25,000 barns from 1906 to 1939. During
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description, Louden's hay carrier "utilized the already existing hay fork tool but broadened its use by attaching it to an overhead monorail along which the hay fork and hay could be moved within a barn."
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487:. Jefferson County Trails, The Louden Tour (adapted from the "Fairfield Heritage Trail" developed by the Jefferson County Historic Preservation Commission). January 2011.
417:. Jefferson County Trails, The Louden Tour (adapted from the "Fairfield Heritage Trail" developed by the Jefferson County Historic Preservation Commission). January 2011.
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A number of buildings and structures attributed to, or associated with, the company and the Louden family are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
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706:
464:. Jefferson County Trails, The Louden Tour (adapted from the "Fairfield Heritage Trail" developed by the Jefferson County Historic Preservation Commission).
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175:"Super Track" systems were also used by the Rocket Express Company to construct department store monorail rides for children during the mid-20th century.
68:
86:
In the early 1890s, the company opened a factory in downtown
Fairfield (at 607 West Broadway) that is still in existence and has been listed on the
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281:, sometimes the Fred and Vera Luedtke Barn, 1938 185th St., vicinity of Fairfield, Iowa (Architectural Department of the Louden Machinery Company)
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240:(Loma Farms complex, which was the farm component of a large estate, was constructed in 1927 by the Bartlett Construction Company of
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and closing), playground equipment (including slides, see-saws, gym sets, "swing bobs," and "whirl-arounds"), and thermostats.
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474:
National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form for Louden Machinery Company, pp. E13 to E15.
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275:(1925), 905 E. Adams Ave., Fairfield, Iowa (designed by C. Eugene Fleming of the Louden Architecture Department)
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303:, Pittsfield, MA, National Historic Landmark; Dairy ell, Louden plan, added to 1910 barn complex in 1939.
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387:"National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form for Louden Machinery Company"
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297:, north of Keosauqua, Iowa; litter carrier, hay carrier, and a metal aerator added to a c. 1880 barn
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291:(dairy barn north of the house attributed as a design of Louden Machinery Company), NRHP-listed
39:. Founded by William Louden, the company in its early years manufactured and sold the patented
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244:; Bartlett used a number of designs provided by the Louden Machinery Company), NRHP-listed
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269:(1871), 107 W. Washington Ave., Fairfield, Iowa (Louden Machinery Company), NRHP-listed
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including the use of Louden equipment. The Architecture Department's projects include
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589:. Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Historic Sites Online. Archived from
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Louden Machinery Company, also known as the Broadway Building, 607 W. Broadway Ave.,
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590:
449:. North American Hay Tool Collectors Association. September 2010. pp. 4–12.
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Sites attributed in whole or in part to the Louden Machinery Company include:
329:, NRHP-listed (home of company founder William Louden and his wife Mary Jane)
187:
In 1956, the company was purchased by Mechanical Handling Systems, Inc., of
19:
926:
National Register of Historic Places listings in Jefferson County, Iowa
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35:
was an American engineering, manufacturing and design company based in
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Arthur C. and Maud Louden House, 201 S. Highland St., Fairfield, Iowa
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Several sites associated with the company have been listed on the
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111:. By 1920, Louden Machinery Company had sales of $ 2.5 million.
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National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, Iowa
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Old Settlers' Association Park and Rhodham Bonnifield House
444:"Feature Story, William Louden - Father of the Hay Carrier"
954:
Agricultural machinery manufacturers of the United States
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Architecture of Henry K. Holsman Historic Campus District
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Correspondence with the New York Museum of Transportation
168:, and for material handling in a B-29 bomber plant in
16:
American engineering, manufacturing and design company
516:. Andress Engineering Associates, Inc. Archived from
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883:
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319:, 501 W. Adams Ave., Fairfield, Iowa, NRHP-listed
811:Louden Monorail System in the Auto Repair Shop
255:Louden Monorail System in the Auto Repair Shop
72:William Louden's 1867 patent for a hay carrier
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646:"The McCafferty Run - Homer Ackley Farmstead"
236:shore north of Thoneys Pt., Powell Township,
8:
766:Evergreen Ridge Stock Farm Historic District
485:"The Louden Machinery Company Story, Page 2"
415:"The Louden Machinery Company Story, Page 1"
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203:Louden Machinery Company (Broadway Building)
930:List of National Historic Landmarks in Iowa
403:. Fairfield Iowa History. January 21, 2011.
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184:the company's president from 1952 to 1953.
141:Industrial applications for Louden Monorail
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499:"What were America's Christmas Monorails"
684:Wm. R. & Mary Jane Louden Home, 1897
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251:(Louden Machinery Company), NRHP-listed
226:(Louden Machinery Company), NRHP-listed
552:"National Register Information System"
460:Jeffrey Fitz-Randolph (January 2011).
211:Attributed to Louden Machinery Company
634:R. B. & Lizzie Louden House, 1871
401:"Louden Machinery Co., Fairfield, IA"
102:Louden Cross Draft Hay Carrier (1915)
7:
723:National Register of Historic Places
659:William C. Page, Joanne R. Walroth.
575:Fred & Rose Fulton Barn, c. 1947
557:National Register of Historic Places
88:National Register of Historic Places
53:National Register of Historic Places
612:Broadway (Louden) Building, c. 1892
866:U.S. Senator James F. Wilson House
836:William and Mary Jane Louden House
786:Gobble and Heer-Spurgeons Building
323:William and Mary Jane Louden House
14:
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831:R.R. and Antoinette Louden House
826:R. Bruce and May W. Louden House
821:R. B. and Lizzie L. Louden House
776:Former U.S. Post Office Building
462:"Louden Automatic Watering Bowl"
325:(1897), 501 W. Washington Ave.,
317:R. Bruce and May W. Louden House
273:R.R. and Antoinette Louden House
267:R. B. and Lizzie L. Louden House
389:. National Park Service. 1998.
127:1920 Louden Barn Plans Catalog
1:
24:
891:August and Vera Luedtke Barn
781:O.F. and Lulu E. Fryer House
623:Louden Whirl-Around, c. 1925
279:August and Vera Luedtke Barn
801:Jefferson County Courthouse
796:Iowa Malleable Iron Company
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287:, 17114 and 17226 OH 104,
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912:Fred and Rosa Fulton Barn
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232:, County Road 550 on the
220:Fred and Rosa Fulton Barn
806:Louden Machinery Company
771:Fairfield Public Library
756:Burnett-Montgomery House
661:"Midway Stock Farm Barn"
285:McCafferty Run Farmstead
64:Founding and early years
33:Louden Machinery Company
119:Architecture Department
727:Jefferson County, Iowa
301:Hancock Shaker Village
295:Midway Stock Farm Barn
204:
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851:George A. Wells House
761:James F. Clarke House
665:National Park Service
562:National Park Service
308:Affiliated properties
242:Eau Claire, Wisconsin
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222:, 1210 278th Blvd.,
166:Oak Ridge, Tennessee
816:Louden Whirl-Around
751:James A. Beck House
261:Louden Whirl-Around
238:Marquette, Michigan
856:Wells-Stubbs House
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896:New Sweden Chapel
289:Chillicothe, Ohio
189:Detroit, Michigan
170:Marietta, Georgia
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648:. Horizon View.
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83:Long Depression
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59:Company history
37:Fairfield, Iowa
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520:on 2012-01-21
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230:Granot Loma
224:Selma, Iowa
179:Later years
147:World War I
46:World War I
41:hay carrier
943:Categories
670:2016-05-10
524:2012-10-06
334:References
923:See also:
734:Fairfield
94:Expansion
597:July 26,
160:During
145:During
905:Selma
447:(PDF)
928:and
599:2011
153:and
31:The
27:1915
725:in
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533:^
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172:.
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25:c.
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708:t
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527:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
