Wayne Corporation

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Wayne’s long road began in 1837 with a Dublin, Indiana foundry making stoves and farm implements. Reorganized as the Wayne Agricultural Company in 1871, it moved to Richmond in 1875 and became Wayne Works in 1888. Horse-drawn wagons evolved into “kid hacks,” then motorized school transport—because apparently even the school run needed an industrial revolution.

Wayne Works built its first motorized School Car in 1914 and grew into a major maker of bus bodies. A 1956 merger placed the business within Divco-Wayne; in 1968, Indian Head acquired Wayne and its specialty-vehicle operations. The company’s Richmond operation made school buses as well as ambulances, hearses, professional cars, and delivery-vehicle bodies.

The 1973 Wayne Lifeguard school bus brought a distinctive body design with long, continuous panels intended to improve structural integrity. Thyssen-Bornemisza took ownership in 1975, and Richmond Transportation Corporation acquired Wayne in February 1985. Competition, market overcapacity, and chassis-supply pressure eventually caught up with the old bus builder; RTC filed for bankruptcy in August 1992, and Wayne’s assets were liquidated.

Our Wayne Corporation collection celebrates the Indiana-built machines that carried generations to class, hauled the daily grind, and gave “ride the bus” a seriously durable steel-shell attitude. It’s a salute to Richmond manufacturing muscle, yellow-bus lore, and a corporate ghost that refused to travel light.