This title documents
the history of the Gruber family and its small business that operated
from 1882 through 1971 in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. From its inception
through the remaining decades of the pre-automotive era, the Gruber
Works was representative of the many small wagon-making businesses
that occurred throughout the United States. As the automotive era
emerged, wagonmaking businesses typically either transformed or vanished,
but the Gruber business – an exception -- continued to make wagons
and other conveyances until the 1950s and to repair these vehicles
through 1971.
In the 1970s,
the Gruber building and its contents were acquired by the US Army
Corps of Engineers as part of a flood-control project and moved about
five miles to a site nearer the city of Reading, after which ownership
was transferred to Berks County and since which time it has served
as a unique museum and interpretive center devoted to documenting
and explaining the tools, materials, technology, and process of wagon-making.
