Schwinn Bicycle Company

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Schwinn Bicycle Company was founded by German-born mechanical engineer Ignaz Schwinn (1860-1945) in Chicago in 1895, became the dominant manufacturer of American bicycles through most of the 20th century and is now an out-sourced sub-brand of Pacific Cycle, currently owned by the multi-national conglomerate, Dorel Industries. Ignaz Schwinn was born in Hardheim, Baden, Germany in 1860 and worked on two-wheeled ancestors of the modern bicycle that appeared in 19th century Europe. Schwinn emigrated to the United States in 1891, where he found similar difficulties. In 1895, with the financial backing of fellow German American Adolph Arnold (a meat packer), he started the Arnold, Schwinn & Company. Schwinn's new company coincided with a sudden bicycle craze in America. Chicago became the center of the American bicycle industry, with thirty factories turning out thousands of bikes every day. Bicycle output in the United States grew to over a million units per year by the turn of the century.