Kilbourne and Jacobs Manufacturing Co.

Kilbourne and Jacobs Manufacturing Company was founded in 1881 by James Kilbourne and HL Jacobs in Columbus, Ohio with an initial investment of $100,000.

[1] Built in close proximity to Union Station,[2] the company produced wheelbarrows, horse-drawn railroad scrapers and other earth-moving equipment during the turn of the century.

[3] Several years after opening, the company developed a line of hand trucks, forty percent of which were sold to the New York Central Railroad.

[2] By the end of the 19th century, Kilbourne and Jacobs was the largest manufacturer of earth-moving equipment in the United States.

[4] The Ohio State Journal reported in 1890 that the company produced approximately 150,000 hand trucks per year with between 400-600 workers, pushing annual sales to nearly $1 million.