Washington County's Aluminum Industry
()
About this ebook
Janean Mollet-Van Beckum
Janean Mollet-Van Beckum is the research center supervisor for the Washington County Historical Society. The society is the repository for the corporate records and photographs of the West Bend Company and also cares for many of the historical records and photographs of Regal Ware, Inc.
Related to Washington County's Aluminum Industry
Related ebooks
Mining Towns of Southern Colorado Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Carolina Tractor & Equipment Company Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDetroit: City of Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Weir Group: The History of a Scottish Engineering Legend Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Upside of Turbulence: Seizing Opportunity in an Uncertain World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Assabet Mills: Maynard, Massachusetts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGKN: The Making of a Business, 1759 - 2009 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Carey Salt Mine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Look Up, Akron! A Walking Tour of Akron, Ohio Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBurlington Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrewing in Cleveland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn The Marketing Circle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGlass in Northwest Ohio Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Steel Plants of the Monongahela River Valley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiners of New York Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Northern Kentucky Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnited States Steel: A Corporation with a Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMail-Order Homes: Sears Homes and Other Kit Houses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making Life Better (Centennial Edition): The Correct Craft Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Entrepreneur: The Fascinating Stories of the People Who Defined Business in the United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Coal in Campbell County Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChicago's Southeast Side Revisited Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rootes Group: Humber, Hillman, Sunbeam, Singer, Commer, Karrier Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCast Iron and the Crescent City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBerlin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSayreville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWyoming Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Arthur Herman's Freedom's Forge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLocomotive Builders of Leeds: E.B. Wilson & Manning Wardle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlma Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
United States History For You
The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Washington County's Aluminum Industry
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Washington County's Aluminum Industry - Janean Mollet-Van Beckum
LLC.
INTRODUCTION
Lightweight, economical, even heating, and easy to clean, aluminum was instrumental in the creation of the modern cookware industry. One of the most common elements on the planet, it is notoriously difficult to extract from surrounding materials. Aluminum was not used commercially until 1854, when the first extraction process was perfected. In 1850, aluminum cost $17 per pound. By the early 1900s, better extraction methods dropped the price to 34¢ per pound, making the metal available for mass production.
By 1920, Wisconsin became the center of the aluminum cookware industry, holding over 50 percent of the nation’s production. Entrepreneurs established companies in areas where industry was needed to revive communities. Many of these, like West Bend and Kewaskum, offered less competition for skilled workers, capital, energy sources, and large markets nearby.
The aluminum industry in Washington County was a main employer in the 20th century. Manufacturing competitors, West Bend Aluminum Company and what began as the Kewaskum Aluminum Company, later to be Regal Ware Inc., both began production early in the century. Both have become well-known names worldwide and Regal Ware Inc. continues to be headquartered and manufacture goods in the county.
In 1911, a group of men headed by B. C. Ziegler organized the West Bend Aluminum Company. They had been looking for an industry to replace a leather goods company that was destroyed by fire. Ziegler had become interested in the industry after a trip to Two Rivers, where the successful Aluminum Goods Manufacturing Company was located. It was a stroke of good luck that the Aluminum Goods Company dismissed Carl and Robert Wentorf. The brothers were experienced tool and die makers and versed in the aluminum manufacturing process. Ziegler hired them, knowing they would be an asset to the young company. The first factory was housed in an old button factory and contained one draw press able to make about 15 different utensils. By 1914, the company expanded to a new facility.
During the Great Depression, West Bend Aluminum Company was able to keep many employees at work. Partly due to their efforts, the unemployment rate in the area was only 4 percent. Although small, the company did show a profit in 1932. It was also during the Depression that the company first manufactured copper products and in 1933 hired new workers.
Over the years, the West Bend Aluminum Company became a household name. During World War II, the company received six Navy E Awards. After World War II, the company purchased the former Kissel Motor Car Company plant in Hartford and began the outboard motor division. In 1957, West Bend Aluminum Company constructed plant facilities in Canada. By 1960, the company manufactured over 450 different products and employed over 2,000 people.
Over the years, the company continued to expand its holdings as well as its markets. In 1961, West Bend dropped aluminum from its name in accordance with the increased variety of products the company manufactured. Reaching into Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, the West Bend Company name became well-known internationally. In 1968, the company merged with Rexall Drug and Chemical Company, which later became Dart Industries. This began a long list of mergers and transfers for the company. In 1980, Dart Industries merged with Kraft Inc. and the West Bend Company became part of the newly formed Dart and Kraft. In 1996, Dart and Kraft disbanded and the West Bend Company became part of Premark International, a corporation split from the former Dart and Kraft corporation. In 1999, Premark merged with Illinois Tool Works and the West Bend Company became a business unit of Illinois Tool Works. In 2002, Regal Ware Inc. acquired certain assets of the West Bend Company.
The company that became Regal Ware Inc. began as the Kewaskum Aluminum Company. In 1919, the Rosenhiemer Malt and Grain Company of Kewaskum had fallen on hard times due to Prohibition. Owner Adolph J. Rosenhiemer, seeing the great success of the neighboring West Bend Aluminum Company, decided to found his own aluminum-manufacturing corporation. After only 18 months in production, the company received the Good Housekeeping Seal.
After the death of Adolph Rosenhiemer, the company was sold to J. O. Reigle and associates in 1945. Knowledgeable in the aluminum production industry, Reigle renamed the company Kewaskum Utensil Company and shortly after renamed it Regal Ware Inc. Unlike the diversification of products from the West Bend Company, Regal Ware Inc. focused on the aluminum cookware industry and today still produces aluminum and stainless steel cookware as its main product. The company also expanded to become a worldwide name and in 2002 purchased West Bend Company.
In 2003, Focus Products Group LLC acquired the business and operations of the West Bend Company Retail Housewares Division from Regal Ware Inc. This acquisition included the small electrical appliance and timer businesses of the former West Bend Company. This enabled Regal Ware Inc. to focus on its core business of high-quality cookware manufacturing under both Regal Ware and West Bend brand names. In 2007, Focus Products Group acquired all