Leupold Rifle Scope Company

History of The Leupold Scope Company

For just over a century Leupold has been a proud American business that's family operated. In 1907, Fred Leupold started his company as an optics company in Portland. Leupold was then joined by Markus Freidrich and Adam Voelpel, his brothers-in-law, in the small shop on 5th and Oak. They named it Leupold & Voelpel. Sometime afterward Leupold's son Marcus, as well as JC Stevens came to be part of the company, and then in 1942, when the company expanded, they changed the name to Leupold & Stevens Instruments Company. At this point in time, Robert, JC's son had also joined and would eventually become the General Manager. Fred Leupold often liked to say that, "the customer is entitled to a square deal" and the company still operates with that belief, which is a reason for their success even now. Fred passed away in 1944 and Markus became president. Fred's other son Norbert, then followed in his brother's and father's footsteps and went on to become the Production Manager.

Leupold & Stevens did not start manufacturing rifle scopes until 1947, the 2.5x Plainsman Scope being the very first. It was the first rifle scope to be filled with nitrogen instead of air, which stopped it from getting fogged over. In fact, several of today's standards in scopes, including the Leupold VX III are based on the innovative developments that Leupold has come up with. In 1957, half a century after starting the business, Leupold & Stevens were gaining esteem for their scopes and had also designed a compass for the outdoors-man. Because the scopes were so valuable to the success of the company, they decided that the very last part of the century would be focused on sports optics.

The last four decades have produced many new innovations and developments in rifle scopes with the design of the Duplex- lightweight high power target rifle scope, the Dual Dovetail mount system and compact rifle scopes. Leuplod & Stevens also began manufacturing binoculars again in the United States with the Leupold Golden Ring Binoculars. In 1998, after fifteen years of presiding over the company, Tom Fruechtel took the place of Werner Wildauer and is still the company's president today. Leupold crafted the very first Lowlight Scope, the first Compact Roof Prism Waterproof Spotting Scope and new, cutting edge competition rifle scopes in 2002. In 2006 they launched the new RX Rangefinder as well as the Leupold VX-L scope.

For the past 100 years, Leupold has contributed positively to the lives of outdoor enthusiasts, shooters and hunters with their rifle scopes. Continuing on the exact same road they have been traveling since 1907; really listening to the customers' need for a "square deal" absolutely make Fred Leupold proud!