The pride of St. Louis: Eagle trucks

^“Built in St. Louis,” the early 20th Century ads emphasized. That proclamation was no more than a spin on the current “Made in the USA” slogan used by domestic manufacturers to promote their products as being superior to their foreign-made counterparts.

In 1919, Joseph P. Reis was an early adopter of this American-built stance to promote his heavy-duty line of Eagle trucks based in St. Louis, Mo. The reason for his “Made in the USA” strategy, however, was to one-up other domestic truck makers, the irony being a large segment of Eagle truck sales were exports to foreign buyers who appreciated American build quality.

Reis was born on June 29, 1883, and was a lifetime resident of St. Louis. In his youth, he studied to be a mechanic. In 1914, at age 31, he established the Reis Auto Repair Co. It was noteworthy for having the largest tire press in St. Louis, as well as major affiliations with Lyon Batteries, U.S. Tire and Ford Motor Co. Reis’ repair shop also operated a 24-hour towing service.

With his growing repair business, Reis, in an interview with “Who’s Who in St. Louis,” laid the foundation for expanding his business to include manufacturing trucks.

He stated, “The truck industry has a very sound future because it is based on one of the basic requirements of civilization—transportation. Without transportation we would have no large cities, and without large cities civilization would be many centuries behind what it is today.”

Based on his belief in the growing demand for truck transportation, in 1919 Reis launched his Eagle line of heavy-duty trucks. He was now president of both the Reis Automobile Co. (re-branded Reis Auto Repair Co.) and the Eagle Motor Truck Corp.

By 1925, Reis’ Eagle truck assembly plant totaled 21,000 sq. ft. and production was six trucks a day. Reis was an astute businessman and strived to stay ahead of his competitors. The Eagle Motor Truck Corp. maintained an in-house export department while other domestic truck makers relied on distant exporting agencies to conduct foreign business. Reis hired G.B. Bell, Jr., who was fluent in several languages, to run the Eagle export department. Since the 1919 formation of Eagle Motor Truck Corp., Reis also implemented a state-of-the-art photography department to showcase the various models of Eagle trucks to both domestic and foreign buyers.

Catering to foreign markets was important to the growth and continued success of Eagle Motor Truck Corp. Eagle trucks were being shipped worldwide, including to buyers in Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Greece, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and Spain. Many of these foreign-bought trucks saw hard-core use in either mountainous or jungle terrain.

As the calendar turned to 1928, the Eagle truck lineup included models ranging from one- to five-ton capacity. A shake-up in the export department found Michael Castro succeeding G.B. Bell, Jr., as head man. Castro was instrumental in closing a deal with Cuba for Eagle Motor Truck Corp. to supply 100 trucks annually in both 1929 and ’30.

With surges in demand for Eagle trucks from both domestic and foreign buyers, Reis and his fellow corporate officers realized their 21,000-sq.-ft. plant on Bartmer Avenue in St. Louis was too small to handle the needed increase in production. The solution was to build a new, larger assembly plant in the St. Louis suburb of Valley Park. The plan was to have the new plant operational for the start of 1929 model truck production.

According to “The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles” by G.N. Georgano and G. Marshall Naul, Eagle Motor Truck Corp. ceased production after 1928. Whether the new Valley Park plant was ever realized is unconfirmed. As was a typical outcome for other auto and truck manufacturers in 1929, the financial meltdown known as The Great Depression may have played a large part in the demise of Eagle truck production.

As for Joseph P. Reis, he remained heavily invested in the St. Louis community in various capacities. He served as a vice-president of a local bank, was a member of both the Masonic Order and Kiwanis Club and was a patron of both the St. Louis opera house and film industry. He also used his mechanical talents to build children’s toys, including a carousel for his granddaughter, Minette, in 1941.

In his obituary published upon his death at age 88 on July 21, 1971, it was reported that Reis continued working full time until his passing.

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