ROCKFORD — Greenlee Textron Inc. held the first of a series of events Saturday night in September to celebrate the company’s 150th anniversary.Ironically, Greenlee Brothers Inc. got its start in Chicago in 1862, when Robert and Ralph Greenlee began producing drills for the furniture industry in Rockford.But a fire in 1912, and another as the pair was rebuilding, forced the company to relocate to Rockford. Greenlee, which was acquired by Rhode Island’s Textron Inc. in 1986, (…)
Textron Inc. itself doesn’t have the most favorable local reputation. Textron bought two of Rockford’s famed screw makers, Camcar in 1955 and Elco in 1995, to create Textron Fastening Systems. That division employed 3,300 people in Rockford in 1997.
But the recession of 2001 hit the area’s fastening industry hard. Looking to save on costs, Textron began moving its operations to lower-cost countries. Today, China is the largest producer of fasteners. In 2007, the Rhode Island conglomerate sold off its fastening interests entirely.
Larry Gray of Cherry Valley is Greenlee’s longest tenured employee. He has been with Greenlee for 46 years, 36 of those under the Textron umbrella. (…)
via September celebration for balanced 150-year-old Greenlee – Rockford, IL – Rockford Register Star.