Realizing he needed to grow the company, Ignaz Schwinn purchased several smaller bicycle firms, building a modern factory on Chicago's west side to mass-produce bicycles at lower cost. Competition became intense, both for parts suppliers and for contracts from the major department stores, which retailed the majority of bicycles produced in those days. Many smaller companies were absorbed by larger firms or went bankrupt in Chicago, only twelve bicycle makers remained in business. By 1905, bicycle annual sales had fallen to only 25% of that reached in 1900. The boom in bicycle sales was short-lived, saturating the market years before motor vehicles were common on American streets. Bicycle output in the United States grew to over a million units per year by the turn of the 20th century. Chicago became the center of the American bicycle industry, with thirty factories turning out thousands of bikes every day. Schwinn's new company coincided with a sudden bicycle craze in America. In 1895, with the financial backing of fellow German American Adolph Frederick William Arnold (a meat packer), he founded Arnold, Schwinn & Company. Schwinn emigrated to the United States in 1891. 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. The classic Schwinn headbadge Founding of Schwinn

Schwinn runabout