Chicago Hardware & Fixture is celebrating one hundred years…and counting! In Franklin Park, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, 2012 will be the 100th continuous year of business for Chicago Hardware & Fixture Company.
In a small building located only a few blocks from the center of downtown Chicago, a young man named John Herbstritt, founded a company named Chicago Warehouse and Silo Fixture Company in 1912. John started the business to fulfill a need for basic hardware components marketed to the farming and railroad industries. Beginning with wire rope clips used to support grain silos being supported by cable, he began developing other wire rope accessories to expand the product offering.
Today, the company now known as Chicago Hardware & Fixture Company, has evolved into a world class, USA manufacturer of steel forgings and wire forms. Continuing on with this heritage are the 3rd and 4th generation owners, Tom Herbstritt, and his son Brian Herbstritt. They have made a commitment to manufacture items to supply various other distribution channels that serve a wide variety of industries beyond agriculture and the railroads. Today, the over 6,000 products offered by Chicago Hardware are used in a variety of industries including rigging, construction, energy, automotive, mining, steel mills, aerospace, communications, marine, entertainment, and many more.
With three Chicago area manufacturing facilities, and distribution facilities located in the areas of Houston, Atlanta and Los Angeles, Chicago Hardware has the capability to offer its distributor partners high quality, American made products in an efficient, cost effective manner. The commitment to quality, service and new products has allowed the Herbstritt family to grow the company and become a leader in the industry.
The company’s growth has resulted in various plant expansions over the years. From the humble beginnings on the West Side of Chicago in 1912, the company moved in the 1946 to a newly constructed plant in Franklin Park, Illinois. Over the next several years there were several plant additions.
In 1952 the family purchased a forging plant in downtown Batavia, Illinois, located on the Fox River. Due to the wish of Batavia to develop the riverside lot for residential buildings, a new building was constructed and the plant was moved to an industrial section of town in 1966, where it is located today. Currently, the plant is being expanded by 10,000 square feet to house new forging equipment that will be dedicated to new Chicago Hardware items. All the steel used to forge Chicago Hardware products is made in the USA, and Chicago Hardware only manufactures in the USA.
In order to keep up with wire products demand, a wire drawing facility was built in 1980 within 3 miles of the main Franklin Park plant. This plant draws wire for threaded rod, u-bolts, eyebolts and various other wire forms, including special products requested by customers. All the wire drawing/forming is done here using exclusively USA made steel.
Chicago Hardware & Fixture Company is proud of its strong heritage and commitment to be an industry leader in the forging and wire forming industries. We look forward to our celebration, and invite our industry partners, and their end-user customers, to join us for the next 100 years and say, “proud to be made in the USA!”
