The Ohio History Center in Columbus recently included a new addition to its transportation exhibits: an Ohio Bell Telephone repair truck manufactured by the White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio.  The truck, built in 1919, was restored by the Ohio Bell Telephone Company in the early 1970s and donated to the Ohio History Connection in 1985.

The history of the White Motor Company begins with a man named Thomas Howard White.  Born in 1836 in Massachusetts, White invented a hand-operated single-thread sewing machine dubbed the “New England Sewing Machine” and formed a company in Massachusetts to sell his invention.  In 1866, he relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, and, ten years later, founded the White Sewing Machine Company.  By 1878, White's new sewing machine production company reached $2.5 million in sales, making them second only to the Singer Manufacturing Company in total sewing machines sold.     

In 1899, Thomas White's son, Rollin White, patented a method of powering vehicles via steam which led to his development of the White Steamer automobile.  The White Steamer quickly proved a success, especially among society's elite, prompting White to branch off of his father's company to create the White Motor Company in 1906.  In the 1910s, the White Motor Company moved away from steam-powered automobiles and began manufacturing gasoline-powered trucks and tractors.  With the outset of World War I, the White Motor Company produced over 18,000 trucks for the U.S. military; by the war's end, the company was responsible for fabricating nearly ten percent of all trucks manufactured in the United States.  

One of the companies that utilized White Motor Company trucks during this time period was Cleveland's Ohio Bell Telephone Company.  Originally known as the Cleveland Telephone Company, the Ohio Bell Telephone Company managed over 500,000 telephones by 1920, mostly in northern and central Ohio.  As their network of telephone lines expanded, so too did the need for installing new telephone poles or repairing damaged telephone lines.  The White Motor Company trucks operated by Ohio Bell were designed to carry ladders, shovels, and other tools and were typically driven by a team of telephone repairmen.

During the Great Depression, the White Motor Company suffered financially but reemerged as the White Motor Corporation in 1934.  From there, the company continued to manufacture trucks and busses and, with the outset of World War II, again produced vehicles for the U.S. military.  Following several mergers with other manufacturing companies, the White Motor Corporation filed for bankruptcy in 1980 and soon after sold their manufacturing plant in Cleveland to Swedish car company Volvo.