
Jayco, Inc. was founded in 1968 by a man of strong faith and vision. The late Lloyd J. Bontrager, family man and inventor, felt he could build the world a better RV. He longed to create a company of his own, one that clearly reflected his ideals: a company where everyone would be treated as "family".
With encouragement from his wife Bertha, Lloyd started Jayco on their farm—in two chicken houses and a barn! He developed his own prototype camping trailer and a unique lifter system for fold-down campers, the basic design of which is patented and still in use today. By the end of 1968, his fledgling company of 15 employees had sold 132 fold-down camping trailers. Today, Jayco's "family" of employees has grown to nearly 1,600 people, while more than 25,000 people join our "extended family" of customers each year.