J. G. Brill Company

The J. G. Brill Company manufactured  streetcars, interurban coaches, and buses in the United States for almost ninety years. The company was founded by John George Brill in 1868 as a horsecar manufacturing firm in Philadelphia. Over the years, it absorbed numerous other trolley-interurban manufacturers such as Kuhlman in Cleveland and Jewett in Indiana. With business diminishing, in 1944 it merged with the American Car and Foundry Company (ACF) to become ACF-Brill. It ceased trolley and bus production in 1954, though some of their interurbans served the Philadelphia area till the 1980'es. Brill was the longest lasting of the nation's trolley and interurban manufacturers. It manufactured over 45,000 streetcars (trams; also known as trolleys or trolley cars in the U.S.), motor buses, trolleybuses and railroad cars. At its height, it was the largest manufacturer of streetcars and interurbans in the U.S. and produced more streetcars and interurbans and gas electrics than any other manufacturer.