Eric Wickman
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Sculptor Arvid Backlund
Carl Eric Wickman (born Erik Wretman; 7 August 1887 – 5 February 1954) was a Swedish-born businessman who was the founder of Greyhound Lines.[1]
Background
Wickman was born Erik Wretman at Martisgården, a family farm located near the small village of Limbäck in the parish of Våmhus, 15 km north of Mora in the province Dalarna, Sweden. He was the son of farmer Karl Viktor Wretman (1858-1947) and Anna Matsdotter (1862-1943) and the maternal grandson of hair jewelry artist Martis Karin Ersdotter. He was the eldest of five siblings and was commonly known as Martis Jerk ("Martis" is the farm name and "Jerk" is the dialectal form of the name Erik).Template:Fact
He changed his name to Carl Eric Wickman in 1905, when he arrived in the United States as a Swedish emigrant.[2] His father Victor had earlier used the surname Wickman when he worked in the United States.Template:Fact
Career
Wickman worked in a mine as a drill operator in Hibbing, Minnesota until he was laid off in 1914. In the same year, Wickman became a Hupmobile salesman as a partnership-owner. When he could not sell the first Hupmobile he received, he began operating a livery route from Hibbing and Alice, Minnesota. By using the seven multi-seat Hupmobile, he drove his former colleagues between the mines and homes. This was the start of what would later become the largest bus line in the United States, renamed "Greyhound Lines" in 1914.[3][4][5]
In 1925, he bought a small line operating out of Superior, Wisconsin that was owned by Orville Swan Caesar (1892–1965). Within a year, the duo formed Northland Transportation Company. The company formally changed its name to The Greyhound Corporation in 1930. By 1934, he had expanded to 50 buses and had revenues of $340,000. Wickman retired as president of Greyhound Corporation in 1946. In 1952, he sold his interest in the business for $960,000.[6]
Personal life
In 1916, Wickman married Olga Rodin (1897–1977). They had two children Robert (Bob) and Peggy (Margaret). In 1940 King Gustav V of Sweden awarded Wickman with the Order of Vasa, first class.[7]
He died aged 66 in 1954 and was buried at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[8]
Companies founded
- Mesaba Transportation Company – 1915
- Motor Transit Corporation – 1922
- Northland Transportation Company – 1925
- Greyhound Pacific – around 1930
- The Greyhound Corporation – 1930
References
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- ↑ 100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound, by Gary Belsky, 19 December 2013. Mentalfloss.com
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- ↑ C. Wickman Dies; Headed Bus Line (The New York Times. 6 February 1954)
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Additional sources
- Jackson, Carlton (1984) Hounds of the Road: A History of the Greyhound Bus Company (Popular Press) Template:ISBN
- Lundell, Kristin (2014) Busskungen- Svensken som grundade Greyhound (Stockholm: Norstedts) Template:ISBN
- Sundquist, Nils (1969) Martis Jerk, Eric Wickman 1887-1954: Våmhuspojken Som Blev USA:s Busskung (Malung: Malungs Boktryckeri AB)
Related reading
- Lewis, Anne Gillespie (2004) Swedes in Minnesota (Minnesota Historical Society Press) Template:ISBN
- Pages with script errors
- Pages with broken file links
- 1887 births
- 1954 deaths
- People from Mora Municipality, Sweden
- People in bus transport
- American company founders
- Swedish emigrants to the United States
- Greyhound Lines
- Hupmobile
- American Lutherans
- Knights First Class of the Order of Vasa
- 20th-century Lutherans