Wayland, Mass. Graham Brothers bus

The Graham Brothers Truck Company of 1924 advertised their vehicle as a “streetcar-like bus” and it represented the beginning of the development of the bus as a form of public transport. The school bus is the oldest bus in our collection, being built in 1924 by the Graham Brothers Truck Company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana. The three Graham brothers began their career in the truck business in 1916, building truck body kits to modify Model T’s and TT’s bodies into trucks. In 1919 they formed the Graham Brothers Truck Company and began producing the “Truck Builder”, latter known as “Glider Kits”. The “Truck Builder” was a complete vehicle, save the engine and transmission. The rear axle was a torbensen internal-gear truck axle manufactured by the Easton Axle Company. Initially, the trucks were built using engines produced by such companies as Continental, Weideley and Dodge. But the brothers quickly realized that the most reliable engine/transmission combination came from Dodge. Obviously, they couldn’t go directly to Dodge, since it already manufactured its own line of small trucks, so they began buying engines/transmissions from Dixie Motor Company, the local Evansville Dodge dealer. Dodge began to wonder why Dixie was ordering so many motors and transmissions and realized that Graham Brothers became second only to General Motors in truck production, engines and transmissions carrying the Dodge label. In 1921, Graham and Dodge came to an agreement whereby Graham would build their trucks, and they would be sold through the Dodge dealer network. In 1924, Dodge bought control of Graham Brothers in exchange for stock, with the brothers continuing with production. But Dodge began moving the operation to Detroit, and in 1927, the brothers sold their remaining interests in the business to Dodge. The bus was operated by a Mr. Showham for the Wayland, Massachusetts, public school system. When it was retired, it was stored in the owner’s barn in Natick, MA. Seashore Trolley Museum member Tom Ford discovered the bus in 1975 outside at its Natick home. The grandson of the owner had taken it out of the barn to work on it, but lost interest, so it had been sitting in the elements for some time. Dr. Ford convinced the owner to donate it to the museum. Work commenced in 1978 with work being done to restore the front end. New crown pieces for the roof were fabricated, along with the right side corner post and firewall post. The tongue and groove sheathing was milled for a new roof.