click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the H. B. Stearns Company
Frank B. Stearns (1879-1955) was a pioneering automobile manufacturer in Cleveland, Ohio, who headed the F. B. Stearns Company, which produced the gasoline-powered Stearns-Knight until 1925 when the company was taken over by the Willys Company of Toledo, Ohio. Founded in 1898, the F. B. Stearns Company manufactured about 50 2-cylinder, 4-passenger automobiles through 1900. Stearns's business partners left the firm in 1900, and Stearns moved the company from the Stearns family home at Euclid Avenue and Republic Street (now East 101st Street) to a new location at Euclid Avenue and Lakeview Road. By 1906 Stearns was manufacturing up to 300 cars per year, and by 1910 that number increased to 1,000. Stearns introduced his first truck in 1910, and the following year began to manufacture automobiles with a special British Knight engine. By 1912, Stearns had dealerships in 125 cities. Production reached its peak in 1920 with 3,850 automobiles. The company was almost bankrupt when Willys purchased a controlling interest in it in 1925, and the company was dissolved in 1929. Once removed from the company, Stearns focused his engineering skills on improving the diesel engine and running his farm in Chesterland, Ohio, where he died in 1955.
From the guide to the Frank B. Stearns Diary, 1915, (Western Reserve Historical Society)
