Carpenter Body Company

Carpenter Body Works (typically referred to simply as Carpenter) was an American bus manufacturer based in Mitchell, Indiana. Founded in 1918, the company produced a variety of vehicles, with the majority of production consisting of yellow school buses for the United States and Canada.

Remaining a family-owned company into the late 1980s, Carpenter entered bankruptcy at the end of 1989 and was forced to reorganize to survive. In 1995, the company relocated to the former Wayne Corporation facilities in Richmond, Indiana; in 1996, the company rebranded its product line as "Crown by Carpenter". In 1998, Carpenter was acquired by specialty vehicle manufacturer Spartan Motors.

In early 2001, Carpenter ended vehicle production, as its market share declined further.

Carpenter traces its roots to 1918, in Mitchell, Indiana. Local blacksmith Ralph H. Carpenter established his own blacksmith works; at the time, part of the business involved building and repairing horse-drawn wagons. At the time, in many rural areas, these were still adapted to carry people simply with the addition of wooden benches. Inspired by the merger of two local school systems in the area near Mitchell, in 1922, Carpenter shifted from repair to construction of new bodies, constructing his first wooden-bodied "kid hack". By the mid-1920s, motorized truck chassis formed the basis of all vehicle bodies. Although still constructed primarily of wood, the new bus bodies were now reinforced by steel in the exterior and framing.

In 1935, the combination of wood and metal construction was replaced by a body built solely of steel; the roof panels were welded together instead of riveted, forming a single panel. At the same time, the company debuted an early form of the school bus stop arm, though in a much different form: instead of a stop sign, the company used a clenched fist with a red-painted index finger that was propped out from the side of the bus. In 1937, Ralph Carpenter reincorporated his business as Carpenter Body Works, expanding into a larger factory in Mitchell in 1939.

In 1939, Ralph Carpenter attended a New York conference organized by rural education professor Dr. Frank W. Cyr, who sought to develop uniform design standards for school bus manufacturers; the event led to the birth of school bus yellow. Several of Carpenter's ideas were adopted, including shatterproof safety glass, steel seat frames, and a fold-out stop sign.

In 1941, the company became one of the first publicly owned bus manufacturers. During the World War II moratorium on private-sector vehicle manufacturing, Carpenter became a bus supplier for the US Army and US Navy, becoming a source of buses for military training facilities across the United States.

In May 1947, the Carpenter factory in Mitchell, Indiana, was heavily damaged by a fire in the paint shop.