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Leupold Rifle Scope Company
History of The Leupold Scope Company
For just over a century now Leupold has been a proud American business that's operated by family. In 1907, Fred Leupold started his business in optics manufacturing in Portland, Oregon. Leupold was later joined by Adam Voelpel and Markus Freidrich, his brothers-in-law, in that one man shop on 5th and Oak Street named Leupold & Voelpel. Sometime afterward Fred's son Marcus Leupold, and JC Stevens joined the company, and then in 1942, as the company was starting to expand, the company name changed to Leupold & Stevens Instruments Company. At this time, Stevens' son Robert also joined the business and would go on to become the General Manager. Fred often liked to say that customers should always have a "square deal" and the business still operates with this belief system, which is a major reason for their continuing success. In 1944, Fred passed away, and Freidrich then moved in to become president of the company. Fred's other son Norbert, decided to follow in his brother's and his father's path and eventually became the company's Production Manager.
Leupold & Stevens did not begin manufacturing rifle scopes until 1947, the 2.5x Plainsman Scope being the very first. It was the first rifle scope that was nitrogen filled rather than air, stopping it from becoming fogged. In fact, several of the standards of today's scopes, including the Leupold VX III are based on the things that Leupold has come up with. In 1957, half a century after launching the company, Leupold & Stevens was starting to gain respect for their rifle scopes and had additionally designed an outdoors-men's compass. Because the scopes were so important to the company's success it was decided that the remainder of the century would be concentrated on sports optics.
The last four decades have seen lots of new developments in rifle scopes with the design of compact rifle scopes, the Dual Dovetail mounting system and the Duplex- lightweight high power target scope. Leuplod & Stevens also brought the manufacturing of binoculars back to the U.S. with the Leupold Golden Ring Binoculars. Then in 1998, after a decade and a half as the company's president, Tom Fruechtel took the place of Werner Wildauer and is still president now. Leupold Rifle Scope Company created the very first Lowlight Rifle scope, the first Compact Roof Prism Waterproof Spotting Scope and a new series of competition rifle scopes in 2002. In 2006 they came up with the new RX Rangefinder and also the Leupold VX-L scope.
Over the past century, Leupold has positively contributed to the lives of shooters, outdoor enthusiasts and hunters with their scopes. Continuing on the same path that they've been on since 1907; listening to consumers' need for a "square deal" absolutely make Fred Leupold incredibly proud!
