Madison County History and Genealogy

History and Genealogy



History of Madison County


The Thomas & Armstrong Company


From History of Madison County, Ohio, Chester E. Bryan, Supervising Editor, B.F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis (1915)

The origin of the present firm of Thomas & Armstrong dates back to Jones & Thomas, hardware dealers, who began business some thirty years ago. With the retirement of Mr. T. R. Jones, M. M. Thomas took in partnership, W. B. Cryder, known as Thomas & Cryder, and in 1892, Mr. M. B. Armstrong became associated with this firm, in charge of their sheet metal and roofing department. After 1904 W. B. Cryder retired and M. M. Thomas continued to run the business alone.

However, the sheet-metal department, under the excellent and progressive management of Mr. Armstrong, had grown to such an extent that in 1906 M. M. Thomas disposed of the hardware business and continued the sheet-metal shop, roofing, plumbing and heating under the name of Thomas & Armstrong Company.

In 1910 The Thomas & Armstrong Company was incorporated, to meet the increased demands; the shop had steadily grown until it had become London's foremost manufacturing concern. The members of the company are: M. B. Armstrong, Clyde and Fred Thomas, Ed and Walter Converse, Robert Boyd and Harry Hames. Mr. Harry Hames has charge of the sheet-metal manufacturing department; he has been associated with some of the largest sheet-metal manufacturing companies in the United States, including Berger Manufacturing Company, of Canton, Ohio; F. O. Schoedinger, of Columbus, and understands the manufacturing of sheet-metal thoroughly.

In 1911 one of the most modern sheet-metal manufacturing plants was built, and arrangements were completed to furnish the farmer with everything that he may need in the way of manufactured sheet-metal direct from the factory. This includes all kinds of sheet-metal, roofing, heating appliances, metal roofing, shingle-metal siding, etc. The ventilators manufactured by this company are being almost universally used in all new farm building work, as they provide a cheap means of perfect ventilation, which gives better health to all kinds of live stock. This plant is also manufacturing several special sheet metal articles and doing a general line of sheet-metal stamping.


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