Euclid and Terex History
Written by Bill Bowman
Euclid, Inc. was one of the world’s leading firms manufacturing off-highway, earthmoving and hauling equipment. The company began in 1926 as part of the Euclid Crane and Hoist Company, a firm founded by George Armington in 1909. In 1931, Armington’s son, Arthur, took over a small shop adjoining Euclid Crane in Euclid, Ohio and incorporated Euclid Crane & Hoist’s off-highway division as a separate firm, the Euclid Rd. Machinery Company. Beginning with 300 employees, the company produced as many as 20 15-ton trucks per month for the construction and mining industries. Euclid tripled its production during World War II and continued to prosper in the post war period. In 1946 it built a new plant, bought another plant 3 years later, and gained an international reputation for quality equipment.
When General Motors acquired the firm for $20 million in 1953, Euclid was a $33 million business with 1,600 employees turning out 170 trucks per month (over half the nation’s off-highway dump trucks}. As a GM division, Euclid continued to develop larger types of equipment. GM was forced to dispose of its Euclid plant as the result of an antitrust suit, under the Clayton Act, against GM. The suit charged GM of being a dominant business and stifling competition in the off-road hauler and earthmoving market. GM fought the suit for 8 years but surrendered in 1968. GM sold the Euclid Division to White Motor Corporation in 1968, but retained production of crawlers, front-end loaders and scrapers under the Earth Moving Equipment Division, forming the Terex brand.
Under the sale agreement with White Motor Corporation, GM was not allowed to produce trucks in competition with White Motor Corporation for 4 years (1968-1972). They could produce off-road haul trucks in this period - but could not sell them in the U.S. GM equipment dealers in the U.S. were offered a franchise deal from White Motor Corporation, to sell the White/Euclid line of trucks, during those 4 years. The international Euclid dealerships were still owned by GM - thus forcing White Motor Corporation to commence the formation of all new international dealerships. Reorganized as Euclid, Inc., the firm remained profitable under White but suffered from the financial difficulties of its parent company in the 1970s. In 1977, White Motor Corp. sold Euclid, Inc. to Daimler-Benz of West Germany.
GM continued to produce haul trucks in the 1968-1972 period, that it had developed during its ownership of Euclid - from plants in Canada and Scotland, that it had been allowed to keep. These were sold as Terex, but were essentially the same as the Euclid line.
The Terex Division was sold to IBH Holding AG of West Germany on January 1, 1981. The transaction included Terex properties in Brazil and Scotland.
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