The Dodge brothers began building trucks under their own name during WWI. Later, they built them under both Dodge and Graham badges.

After Dodge was bought by Chrysler in 1928, trucks continued to be built, with much sharing of engine and other components under the Plymouth, Dodge and Desoto badges. Earlier trucks were built on automobile chassis, but in 1936 Dodge brought out their first truck built on a heavy-duty chassis.

A.T. Fairbanks led the sculpture department at the University of Michigan. He made extra money by sculpting hood ornaments for Chrysler. Asked to sculpt a new ornament for Dodge, he tried a number of designs and finally came up with the charging ram. He presented that design to Chrysler executives. When asked why the ram, he allegedly said "When you see a charging ram coming at you . . . you dodge!". Walter Chrysler liked the idea and directed that the design be used on Dodge vehicles. Rams in some form were used on every Dodge car and truck between 1936 and 1954.