Baker Material Handling

From electric cars to material handling: the story of Baker Materials Handling Co.

Baker Materials Handling grew out of Baker‑Raulang—a company that survived by pivoting from electric car manufacturing to mobile trucks and equipment for the material‑handling industry. Baker‑Raulang was formed in 1915 through the merger of two Cleveland automotive pioneers: Rauch & Lang Carriage Co. and Baker Motor Vehicle Co.

Rauch & Lang traced its roots to Jacob Rauch’s 1850s blacksmith and wagon shop. After his death in 1862, his son Charles took over; in 1885, Charles E. Lang joined as a partner, and the firm expanded into delivery vehicles. With the advent of the horseless carriage, the company moved into automotive bodies and, in 1904, introduced its first commercially available closed‑body electric car.

Baker Motor Vehicle was founded in 1898 by Walter Baker, Fred R. White, and Rollin C. White to build and market electric cars. By 1907, the company had added electric load trucks, and within five years more than 200 companies were operating Baker fleets.

The 1915 merger and a World War I contract to build industrial trucks for unloading supplies for the American Expeditionary Forces set the company’s course (the plant was located at 2168 W. 25th St.). As gasoline engines took over, Baker‑Raulang sold its electric car division to Stevens‑Duryea in 1920 and focused on industrial trucks, tractors, cranes, and mobile material‑handling equipment.

In 1953, Otis Elevator Co. acquired the company, making Baker the centerpiece of its material‑handling division and bolstering it with Moto‑Truc Co. (1960) and Euclid Crane & Hoist Co. (1970). In the early 1970s, plants at 8000 Baker Ave. and 12401 Taft Ave. produced electric motors and components for urban transit cars.

In 1975, Otis merged with United Technologies, and in 1977 sold the Baker Division to Linde Aktiengesellschaft, a German lift‑truck manufacturer. By 1989, Baker Materials Handling was no longer in business.