Company produces between 100 and 150 carriages every year
By Chuck Carlson
Battle Creek Enquirer
NASHVILLE, Mich. (AP) — Alex is 35 years old, ancient for a Morgan horse.
These days, he’s got acres of green pastures all to himself and he spends his time doing whatever it is old Morgan horses do, though, when a photographer appears, he makes a point to stop and show his good side.
Todd Andler laughs.
“He’s had his picture taken a lot,” he told the Battle Creek Enquirer.
Alex is the last of a once-great community of Morgan horses bred by Herb Andler on this family farm 15 miles north of Battle Creek and a world away from everything.
It’s been 40 years now since Herb Andler decided the Morgan horses he raised could lead to something extraordinary.
Morgans were bred in America in the 19th century to pull carriages and wagons in the days when the horse and buggy were viable and necessary modes of transportation.
Andler had more than 30 Morgan horses when he decided to purchase several vintage buggies and carriages for the horses to pull.
When it came time to sell the horses, some buyers would say, “I’ll take the horse, but sell me the carriage, too.”
Thus was born an idea and it continues today right under Alex’s nose.
Justin Carriage Works has taken a very old idea and put a new spin on it, mostly under the watchful eye of Herb’s son, Todd, who handles the day to day affairs.
The idea was at once all-too simple and oh-so complicated.
“My dad decided to start making carriages,” Todd said. “Everybody thought he was crazy.”
They thought that mostly because Herb Andler had no idea how to make carriages in an age when such items were more easily found in museums.
But Andler went to the library, studied the craftsmanship required and, through trial and error, created a company that has little competition these days.
The business employs nine craftsmen and can still be found where it always was, off M-66 in several small buildings where everything from woodworking to metal work to upholstery is done.
The name of the company, Todd Andler said, comes from the 1972 Walt Disney movie, “Justin Morgan Had a Horse,” which chronicled the horse’s introduction to America.
Today, Justin Carriage Works produces between 100 and 150 carriages every year for everything from funerals to weddings to lawn ornaments.
Indeed, on this day, one small carriage has just been completed to pull a coffin on the back of a motorcycle. Another white hearse is set to be delivered to the island of Trinidad. Yet another carriage is headed to Ohio and one, which will be a stagecoach replica, is headed eventually to the University of Texas football program as part of its pregame ritual. There’s even a miniature stagecoach being built for someone to use as a yard ornament in the Netherlands.
The company has made carriages that can be found in New York City’s Central Park, in front of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and in parades at Disney World. It has sold carriages in Japan and Great Britain and Israel and Hong Kong and Costa Rica and even right down the street.
“I’ve been everywhere delivering carriages,” Todd said.
Most sales now are online, thanks to a slick website Herb Andler developed. Though all of the carriages are made of fiberglass, Todd Andler insists each be made with the kind of old-world care that used to be the standard.
The website features dozens of types of carriages and buggies that can run a few thousand dollars to several thousand.
“The internet’s been great for us,” said the 49-year-old Andler, who has been in the business since he was kid and long ago stopped thinking about the reasons people order carriages. “But it is amazing how many individuals want to buy carriages.”
He speaks of the practical applications as well, including all the small carriages he’s sold in rural Nevada and New Mexico so medicine and supplies can be delivered in out-of-the-way places.
But Andler admits there are times that people don’t want them. He said this winter was especially tough and he was forced to sideline several workers for lack of work. But he said they’re all back now and business is steady.
“Some days you sit and wait for the phone to ring and other days you can’t wait for it to stop ringing,” he said.
Bob Jordan, in his second year as a metal worker, is married to Todd’s sister Dawn and is happy when the phone keeps ringing. He lost his job as a fabricator and now is doing work he never imagined.
“This is like doing a craft for me,” he said. “You name it, I’ve built it.”
