When Buddy Ledwell returned from serving in World War II in 1946, he and his father, L.W. Ledwell Sr., started a lumber company called Ledwell & Son. One day Buddy needed a certain kind of trailer to haul lumber, so he rolled up his sleeves and welded the frame he needed to get the job done.
A neighboring farmer saw the trailer and asked, “Where’d you get that? I need one!” So Buddy started building them.
Pretty soon, Ledwell & Son had a burgeoning side business building pickup racks and livestock trailers, and it soon became the focus of the operation. When a farmer or a feedlot owner identified a problem with their equipment, Buddy and his father found a way to manufacture a solution.
In 1955, Buddy incorporated Ledwell & Son and built his first truck shop at the corner of Robison Road and Waco Street in Texarkana, Texas. We’d say the rest is history, but in reality, it took a lot of long hours, hard work, dedication, and determination for Buddy and his family to build Ledwell into what it is 75 years later—a growing American manufacturing company blessed with many dedicated employees on two sites in Texarkana with more good Ledwell people in North Carolina. Buddy had a keen sense of his customers’ needs, sometimes even before they did, and he customized products to respond to the demands of those customers. Since the company began, doing our best for our customers has been what we are known for.
‘Not just well made, Ledwell made,’ means everything to us.
When you visit our corporate office in Texarkana, Texas, look to the right when you walk in our front door. There, you’ll see an exhibit (pictured below) that celebrates the life of Betty and Buddy Ledwell and features some of our original equipment.
As we begin our 75th year, we’d like to thank our employees, customers, and community partners for their hard work, business, and support throughout the decades. It has been a pleasure to serve you.