One Of America's Oldest Trucking Companies Has Been Around Longer Than Automobiles

The automobile celebrates its 140th birthday this year. That very first patented "horseless carriage" built way back in 1886 kick-started the automobile revolution that would eventually see virtually the entire world mobilized. However, John T. Ward and his son, William, were too busy to sit around and wait for Benz and Daimler to make their car. Instead, this father-and-son duo launched their company, E.E. Ward Moving & Storage Co. — a full 5 years prior in 1881. Starting with just two horses and a wagon, the company has gone from strength to strength in the last 144 years, and now operates with 45 trucks and 75 employees.

E.E. Ward stayed in control of the family for an impressive 120 years, when John's great-grandson Eldon sold the company on to current owners Brian and Dominique Brooks in 2001. E.E. Ward also stands as the oldest African-American-owned business in the United States. What started as an operation run from a single stop on the Underground Railroad has become one of the most respected moving companies in the U.S., and the way the firm has updated and progressed over the years walks hand-in-hand with the evolution of cars and trucks.

In the early days, things for E.E. Ward were simple. The firm owned just two horses and a single wagon, so it's not hard to piece together how they operated as movers. Despite the automobile officially hitting the scene in 1886, E.E. Ward didn't actually retire its last horse until 1921 – a full 40 years into business. By this point, the Ford Model T, one of the most significant cars in history, had been making rounds for over a decade, so no doubt it, certainly was time to afford the horses some much-deserved rest. Now, no sources point out exactly what makes and models E.E Ward was using back in the early '20s once the horses had moved on, but it's likely the team would have been using something from the more prominent truckmakers of the era, such as Mack, International Harvester, GMC, and of course, Ford.

E.E. Ward does share one photo from its past online, which includes four American trucks and dates back to 1951. Among the trucks appear to be several B-Series Dodge models produced between 1948 and 1953, plus a slightly older W-Series truck that hit the streets in 1940. A later image shows the company using a Mercedes 'NG' truck dating to the late '70s and early '80s, showcasing a transition from American-made models to European cab-over-engine designs. With 45 trucks of various sizes and specialties, E.E. Ward seems to be geared up for many more decades in business. Perhaps electric or even hydrogen-powered trucks will become a part of their fleet in the next century.