Ames True Temper


Ames True Temper is a multinational corporation headquartered in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, USA. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Griffon Corporation. Ames True Temper specializes in the manufacture of non-powered lawn and garden products. Their manufacturing plant is located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and produces 85% of the wheelbarrows in the United States and Canada producing 1.7 million wheelbarrows each year. The Harrisburg plant has been in continual operation since 1876.
Ames, which celebrated its 200th anniversary in 1974, is among the oldest still-extant business corporations in the United States.

History

Formation

Blacksmith and pioneer Captain John Ames began making metal shovels in America in 1774.
Ames underwent a merger in 1931 including Baldwin Tool Works of Parkersburg, West Virginia, the Ames Shovel and Tool Company of North Easton, Massachusetts; the Wyoming Shovel Works of Wyoming, Pennsylvania; Hubbard & Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and the Pittsburgh Shovel Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The result of the merger was called the Ames Shovel and Tool Company. The company was renamed the Ames, Baldwin, Wyoming Company in 1933. In 1952, it became known as the O. Ames Company.
The Old Stone Forge of Wallingford, Vermont, founded in 1808, became the American Fork and Hoe Co. In 1949, the name was changed to True Temper. Ames purchased True Temper from the Huffy Corporation in 1999 to become Ames True Temper.
In 2002 Ames, then based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania closed one of its two plants manufacturing lawn and garden tool in Wood County, West Virginia.

Problems and controversies

Ames True Temper Company closed its facility in West Virginia in September 2005, unable to reach a contract agreement with the United Steelworkers Union.

Brands

Ames True Temper currently owns the following brands: