Here’s a brief history of Jeep vehicles in Toledo:

1909 — John North Willys buys the assets, including the plant, of Pope-Toledo Co., moves the assembly operations of his Indiana-based Overland Automobile Co. to Toledo and Willys-Overland Motor Co. is born at the former Jeep Parkway site.

1941 — U.S. Army gets proposals from Willys-Overland, Ford Motor, and American Bantam Co. to make durable war vehicles, Willys-Overland and Ford awarded contracts to make most of them. Willys ends up making about 368,000 Jeeps during World War II at its Toledo plant. Ford made 281,000 during the war and Bantam made about 2,700.

VIEW: Jeep by the numbers

1942 — Willys-Overland employs 7,500 at its Toledo plant at the beginning of the year but peaks at 16,000 during the war.

1945 — The first civilian Jeep, CJ-2A, is introduced and production begins the next year.

1946 — Willys-Overland begins production of a Jeep station wagon for the public. It’s the first all-steel wagon made in the United States.

1947 — Peacetime Jeep sales reach 100,000 units. The Jeep lineup expands to three vehicles with the introduction of the Willys Overland Jeep truck.

1950 — Willys-Overland is officially granted trademark rights to the Jeep name.

1952 — Willys-Overland ranks as No. 5 U.S. automaker behind Big Three and Studebaker, and makes 168,216 Jeeps, two-thirds for civilian use.

1953 — Kaiser-Frazer Corp.’s subsidiary Kaiser Manufacturing Corp. buys Willys-Overland Motors Inc. for about $62.3 million and changes its name to Willys Motors Inc. Also, the first Jeep Jamboree off-road trip is held at California’s Rubicon Trail.

1954 — The 5 millionth Jeep assembled by Willys rolls off the line.

1962 — More than 1,000 workers are hired as the J-Series truck and Wagoneer vehicles are introduced. The following year, the company, renamed Kaiser Jeep Corp., employs about 7,900 in Toledo.

1963 — Willys Motors changes to Kaiser-Jeep Corp.

1964 — Kaiser Jeep buys Auto-Lite Co.’s Stickney Avenue plant, the site where Wranglers today are made.

1965 — Every float in President Lyndon Johnson’s presidential inauguration parade in Washington is pulled by a Jeep.

1969 — Kaiser Industries Corp. sells Kaiser Jeep to American Motors Corp. for $70 million. The plant, employing 5,800, is renamed Jeep Corp.

1970s — The military Jeep production is moved to Indiana, in a former Studebaker plant, eventually producing the Humvee military vehicle.

1978 — American Motors started plans for a new Jeep, code-named XJ and what became Cherokee.

1983 — Production of the Cherokee begins. AMC spends $250 million modernizing the two Toledo factories, which employ 5,400.

VIEW: Jeep vehicles through the years

1985 — More than 1,000 Toledo Jeep workers are laid off when production of CJ-7 version of the Jeep is moved to an AMC factory in Brampton, Ont. The Jeep is redesigned and named the YJ Wrangler the following year.

1987 — Chrysler Corp. announces it will buy AMC for about $1.5 billion, including Toledo Jeep, which has 5,500 workers. Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca lists Jeep as the biggest plus from the acquisition.

1990 — Chrysler announces production of the YJ Wrangler to move to Toledo from Canada. It moved the next year.

1991 — Production of the Grand Wagoneer ends in Toledo.

1992 — A trio of red, white, and blue Wranglers — symbolizing the first Wrangler built in Toledo — roll off the assembly line amid cheers, speeches, and the theme music from the movie Rocky. Also, the first right-hand-drive Cherokees for export are produced.

1993-1995 — Chrysler produces Dodge Dakota pickup trucks in Toledo, but once that is discontinued, production of the Wrangler and Cherokee increases, with the two plants making nearly 1,200 vehicles a day.

1996 — Chrysler begins discussions with the United Auto Workers about replacement of Toledo’s aged Jeep assembly plant with a $1 billion state-of-the art facility at the company’s Stickney Avenue site. Also, President Bill Clinton visits the Toledo Jeep plant. And production begins of right-hand drive Wranglers for export.

1997 — Following a “Toledo Loves its Jeep” campaign and a big incentive package, Chrysler proceeds with a new $1.2 billion Toledo Jeep plant on more than 560 acres east and north of its Stickney Avenue plant.

1998 — Chrysler merges with Daimler AG of Germany. The new company is named DaimlerChrysler.

2001 — A new factory at the Toledo Jeep complex opens next to the existing Stickney Avenue plant. The new facility makes Jeep Liberty, which replaced discontinued Cherokee.

2003 — DaimlerChrysler said it will build a 450,000-square-foot expansion of the Toledo Jeep complex to help Wrangler production, investing $2.1 billion.

2005 — Jeep shows off the Wrangler-based Gladiator concept pickup truck, which has strong public reviews but doesn’t get built.

2006 — The last Jeep rolls off the line at Chrysler’s Toledo Parkway assembly plant. The site, then the oldest operating assembly plant in North America, had been building Jeeps for 64 years. Jeep debuts the four-door Wrangler Unlimited. The model greatly expands the Wrangler’s appeal.

2007 — Daimler sells Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management for $7.4 billion.

2009 — Chrysler seeks bankruptcy protection, and its assets, including Jeep, are acquired by Fiat SpA as part of a deal managed by President Obama. The company is renamed Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

2011 — Fiat Chrysler announces a $500 million investment at its Toledo Assembly Complex to expand one of the factories.

2012 — Jeep Liberty production in Toledo ends, and a year later, after retooling in the Toledo plant, the Cherokee brand is revived, with a new look.

2014 — Worldwide Jeep sales pass 1 million units for the first time. Toledo Assembly Complex accounts for half that production, building 511,466 vehicles.

2014-2015 — Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne tells the news media that Wrangler production might move out of Toledo because of production limitations. Toledo officials assemble proposals to keep the Wrangler and Cherokee production in Toledo, including construction of a new assembly plant. Later, Mr. Marchionne says that Cherokee production will be moved out of Toledo, leaving Wrangler alone.

2015 — The Jeep Renegade debuts as the first Jeep made outside North America (Italy.) Jeep again sets new sales records, topping 1.2 million units globally and 865,000 in the United States. Wrangler and Cherokee both top 200,000 units in the United States, setting individual records.

2016 — The Jeep brand celebrates its 75th anniversary, and a Wrangler Salute retro vehicle is made in Toledo. UAW and community officials plan Toledo Jeep Fest for Aug. 13 in downtown Toledo. Fiat Chrysler confirms Wrangler production will stay in Toledo, investing $700 million and adding 700 jobs to the 5,100 now at Toledo Assembly to make the redesigned Wrangler next year. The company confirms it will move Cherokee production to an Illinois plant.

First Published August 7, 2016, 4:00 a.m.