An engraved portrait and signature of Edward Bain, founder of Bain Wagon Company. Bain was born March 9, 1823, and moved to Kenosha (then Southport) in 1844. He entered the wagon business in 1852, building Bain wagons at the rate of six per week. At the time of his death, in 1898, Bain Wagon Company was manufacturing approximately 15,000 wagons per year and had become the largest wagon manufacturer in the world.
Founded by Edward Bain in 1852, Bain Wagon Company, Inc. produced wagons and wagon components until 1926, when the last wagon was sold to a Kenosha County resident. Shortly after, the company consolidated with the Perkin Wagon Company, turning into the Bain Wagon Company of Illinois, thus ending business in Kenosha, Wisconsin.