Leupold Rifle Scope Company

The History of The Leupold Optics Company

For a hundred years now Leupold has been an American company that is family operated. In 1907, Fred Leupold began his company in optics design and manufacturing in Portland, Oregon. He was then joined by his brothers-in-law, Adam Voelpel and Markus Freidrich, in the small shop located on 5th and Oak Street referred to as Leupold & Voelpel. Sometime later Fred's son Markus, along with JC Stevens joined the company, and then in 1942, as the company expanded, they changed the name from Leupold & Voelpel to Leupold & Stevens Instruments Company. By this time, JC's son Robert also joined the company and would go on to become the General Manager. Fred was always saying that customers were entitled to a "square deal" and his company continues to operate under this belief system, which is a reason for their success even now. Fred passed on in 1944 and Freidrich moved into the position of president. Another son of Fred's, Norbert, made the choice to follow in his brother's and his father's path and went on to become the Production Manager.

Leupold & Stevens didn't manufacture and design rifle scopes until 1947, the 2.5x Plainsman Scope being the first. The 2.5x Plainsman Scope was the first rifle scope that was nitrogen filled rather than air, which prevented it from getting fogged over. As a matter of fact, several of the standards of today's rifle scopes, such as the Leupold VXIII scope are based on the innovative developments that Leupold has come up with. In 1957, half a century after beginning the business, Leupold & Stevens were gaining attention for their scopes and had additionally designed a compass for the outdoors-man. Because rifle scopes had been so beneficial to the success of the company, it was decided that the rest of the century would be centered on sports optics.

The last forty years have produced a lot of new developments and innovations in rifle scopes with the design of compact scopes, the Duplex- lightweight high power target rifle scope and the Dual Dovetail mounting system. Leuplod & Stevens also began manufacturing binoculars again in the U.S. with the Leupold Golden Ring Binoculars. Then in 1998, after fifteen years as president of the company, Tom Fruechtel took the place of Werner Wildauer and is still president now. Leupold created the first Lowlight Scope, the first Compact Roof Prism Waterproof Spotting Riflescope as well as new, cutting edge competition scopes in 2002. In 2006 they came up with the new RX Rangefinder and the Leupold VXL rifle scope.

For the past century, Leupold has contributed to the lives of hunters, shooters and outdoors people with their scopes. Continuing on the same path they have been on since 1907; listening to customers' need for a "square deal" certainly would make Fred Leupold incredibly proud!