Leupold Rifle Scope Company

The History of The Leupold Scope Company

For over a century Leupold has been an American business that is operated by family. In 1907, Fred Leupold initially began his company in optics design and manufacturing in Portland, Oregon. Leupold was joined by his brothers-in-law, Adam Voelpel and Markus Freidrich, in the small shop on 5th and Oak named Leupold & Voelpel. Sometime later Marcus Leupold, Fred's son, as well as JC Stevens became part of the business, and then in 1942, when the company expanded, the name was changed from Leupold & Voelpel to Leupold & Stevens Instruments Company. At this point in time, Robert, Stevens' son had joined the business and would go on to become the General Manager. Fred Leupold was known to say that each customer is entitled to a "square deal" and the company still operates with this belief system, which certainly contributing to their continuing success. In 1944, Fred passed away, and Markus then became president of the company. Another of Fred's sons, Norbert, then followed in his father's and brother's path and became the Production Manager.

Leupold & Stevens did not start designing rifle scopes until 1947, the very first one being the 2.5x Plainsman Scope. It was the very first rifle scope to be filled with nitrogen as opposed to air, which stopped it from becoming fogged. As a matter of fact, several of today's standards in scopes, including the VXIII are based on the innovations and developments that Leupold has come up with. In 1957, half a century after beginning the company, Leupold & Stevens started to gain esteem for their scopes and had also produced an outdoors-men's compass. Since scopes had been very beneficial to the company's success they decided that the second part of the century would be spent focused on sports optics.

The last forty years have brought numerous innovations in rifle scopes with the invention of the Duplex- lightweight high power target scope, compact scopes and the Dual Dovetail mounting system. Leuplod & Stevens also began manufacturing binoculars again in America with Leupold Golden Ring Binoculars. Then in 1998, after fifteen years of presiding over the company, Tom Fruechtel replaced Werner Wildauer and is still the president of the company now. Leupold Rifle Scope Company made the first Lowlight Riflescope, the first Compact Roof Prism Waterproof Spotting Riflescope as well as a cutting edge series of competition scopes in 2002. In 2006 there was the brand new RX Rangefinder and the Leupold VX-L rifle scope.

During the past century, Leupold has contributed positively to the lives of outdoor enthusiasts, hunters and shooters with their scopes. Following the same path that they have been traveling since 1907; listening to customers' need for a "square deal" would surely make Fred Leupold proud today!