Wilson Bohannan Padlock Company

The Wilson Bohannon Padlock Company is the last family owned company that still makes padlocks in the United States.

About the founder

The founder of the company was Wilson Bohannan who was born in 1829 in Montpelier, Vermont. He got his interest into locks at a very early age by designing and building his own simple locking mechanisms. By age 20 he got his first padlocks on the market and went to partnership with Charles T. Gibson who was another lock inventor that thought Wilsons padlocks were worthy of production. By 1888 the partnership between Gibson and Wilson ended and Wilson later on went into other partnerships. On April 17, 1860 Wilson was granted his first padlock patent and then that led to other patented padlocks. It was on February 22, 1896 that Wilson Bohannan died, but before he died he gave his thriving business to his family so that future family generations could follow in his foot steps.

Wilson Bohannan Tway is the current family generation that is running the business now.

About there factories

The first big factory was built in 1888 and was located in Brooklyn, Ohio on Lexington Ave. In 1926 Wilson Tway decided to leave Brooklyn and move to Marion, Ohio where it's located today.

The types of padlocks they made

The Wilson and Bohannan Padlock Company is a producer of high quality padlocks designed for the toughest outdoor locations. The main focus of there padlocks was on public utilities and still is today.

External Links

http://www.padlocks.com/HISTORY.htm