Fleetwood RV’s origins date back to 1950, when John Crean formed Coach Specialties Company in an old greenhouse on his southern California property. The company made window blinds for travel trailers, as well as aluminum siding. Crean also built a camper prototype for himself and received many orders.
By 1953, Crean had renamed the company Fleetwood Trailer Company, after his admiration for the luxury automobile body style of the Cadillac. The business quickly expanded into making aluminum skinned travel trailers.
Fleetwood began an aggressive nationwide expansion in the 1960s due to the growing post-war demand for family travel trailers. The Macomb plant was located on Bower Road, where the Farm King warehouse is today. Hundreds of local residents worked on assembly lines fabricating, wiring, and finishing products.
The Macomb plant was dedicated primarily to Fleetwood’s highly popular lines of classic pull behind travel trailers and early fifth-wheel models. Later, Fleetwood Trailer Factory, as it was commonly called, moved into the area of motorized RVs as well as mobile homes. Fleetwood Enterprises had a presence in Macomb from 1967 until 1974.
Fleetwood Trailer Factory was a common staple of employment in Macomb alongside other period factories like the Royal Haeger Lamp Factory. Plant management and assembly line workers formed a part of Macomb’s industrial history during the 1960s and 1970s and prior decades. As demand grew across America for mobile housing and travel trailers, Fleetwood established regional manufacturing centers to lower shipping costs and better serve territories.
The Macomb facility was established as part of this housing and travel trailer division. The plant specialized in assembly line production, creating affordable, mass-market travel trailers and manufactured housing.
Like many industrial assembly hubs in Illinois, the Macomb plant operated through the standard cyclical highs and lows of the RV and manufactured housing industries. The 1970s and early 1980s brought strong headwinds.
Spurred by the high inflation, skyrocketing gas prices, and shifting consumer demographics, Fleetwood was forced to restructure its entire organization. In 1980, the company downsized heavily and completely closed nine of its production plants across the country.
While Fleetwood Enterprises remained a powerhouse through the 1990s, the early 2000s recession and heavy debt burden eventually crippled the parent company. Fleetwood filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2009, permanently shutting down its remaining travel trailer plants across the United States.
The legacy of the Fleetwood Trailer Factory and Fleetwood Enterprises remains embedded in Macomb history. Vintage Fleetwood campers and travel trailers built during the plant’s mid-century prime are still highly sought after by collectors and regional museums like the RV/MH Hall of Fame.
Manufactured and model homes built by Fleetwood remain part of the housing landscape in McDonough County. Modern mobile home dealers in the region still feature modular and manufactured housing lines originally taken from Fleetwood’s parent structures.
On July 17, 2009, the private equity firm American Industrial Products (AIP) acquired the manufactured housing division. Fleetwood RV is now headquartered in Decatur, Indiana. In 2010 AIP combined Fleetwood with E-One, Collins Industries and Halcore Group to form Allied Specialties Vehicles. That company has now formed as a collective manufacturer for Fleetwood RV, American Coach, Monaco, Holiday Rambler and Trek recreational vehicle brands.
During its first dozen years, Fleetwood Enterprises became a public company (1965), reporting sales of 18.5 million. The company became part of the Fortune 500 in 1973, remaining there for three decades. By 1989, Fleetwood RV sales reached the one billion dollar milestone in its sales of manufactured homes.
Throughout its history Fleetwood used the following vehicle names: American Dream American Eagle American Heritage American Tradition Avion Bounder Bounder Classic Coleman Discovery Festival Flair Jamboree Jamboree Sport Mallard Pace-Arrow Providence Revolution Southwind Storm Terra Tioga Montana Tioga Ranger Today Fleetwood RV operates as part of the REV Recreation group. The company is headquartered in Decatur, IN, where its motorhomes are still built.
Fleetwood RV helped define the American roadtrip and continues to inspire new generations travelers to explore the road in comfort and style. From a small trailer parts/venetian blinds company in the 1950s to a leading RV manufacturer with iconic names like The Bounder and Discovery, Fleetwood has left an undeniable mark on RV history. Today it carries on its tradition of innovation and family friendly design, ensuring that the Fleetwood name remains a trusted choice for RVers across the country.
Macomb Businessmen at the Ribbon Cutting of Fleetwood Trailer Company. Pictured from Left to Right (with help from our readers on Facebook) - Bud Lucas, John Sappington, Binnie Wolf, Raleigh Soloman, G. David Carson, 3 Unknown, R.B. Purdum, John Moon, Gene John, William 'Bill' Crain and Bob Ackley.
Fleetwood was once a major part of the landscape of Macomb, Illinois. While the Macomb plant was shuttered in 1974 when Fleetwood consolidated its manufacturing footprint into larger regional hubs elsewhere in the U.S., many former plant workers in the community still recall the factory as a viable presence in the mid-century industry in McDonough County.
Credits: Macomb A Pictorial History by John Hallwas
John Crean's book, 'The Wheel and I: Driving Fleetwood Enterprises to the Top.'
