Mueller Co.
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| Industry | Water Infrastructure |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1857 |
| Founder | Hieronymus Mueller |
| Headquarters | Decatur, Illinois, United States |
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Key people
|
Greg Rogowski (President) Greg Hyland (Chairman and CEO of Mueller Water Products) |
| Revenue | $783.3 Million (2014) |
| $122.3 Million (2013) | |
| Parent | Mueller Water Products, Inc. |
| Website | www |
Mueller Co. is a Decatur, Illinois-based company that manufactures fire hydrants, gate valves, and other water distribution products. Mueller Co. is the largest supplier of potable water distribution products in North America. Mueller Co., along with Anvil International, are subsidiaries of Mueller Water Products, Inc.
Mueller Co. was founded in 1857 by Hieronymus Mueller in Decatur, Illinois as "H. Mueller, Gun Shop". Mueller closed the business briefly in 1858 to prospect for gold in Colorado, but returned to his business not long after, expanding it to include sewing machine and clock repairs and the sale of hunting and fishing equipment in addition to gunsmithing. By 1880, the focus of Mueller's business shifted from manufacturing guns to manufacturing plumbing goods, and in 1885, Mueller changed the name of his business to "H. Mueller Manufacturing Co." and he moved the gun and sporting goods division of his company to a separate location. By 1891, Mueller ran three separate businesses: a plumbing services shop, a plumbing goods manufacturing company, and a gun sporting goods store. In 1896, Mueller's manufacturing business had grown so much, the family sold its gun and sporting goods business in order to focus entirely on producing plumbing goods.
Mueller Co.'s previous headquarters location in Decatur started as a two-story brick building constructed in 1895 and was gradually expanded to include a third story, another three-story office building and warehouse, a power plant, a soda fountain manufacturing plant, an engineering building, galvanizing facilities, and a gym, among others. By 1960, the campus consisted of more than a dozen buildings occupying six city blocks. Around 1910, the youngest Mueller brother, Oscar, moved to New York in order to establish and run Mueller Manufacturing's Eastern Division manufacturing and sales office, resulting in a sharp increase in the business the company did in Canada. In 1912, Oscar Mueller moved again in order to establish a new manufacturing plant in Sarnia, Ontario under the name Mueller, Ltd.
During World War I, the Mueller brothers formed Mueller Metals Company in order to address the shortage of brass rod munitions fuses, constructing a plant in Port Huron, Michigan. The plant went into production as the war was ending, and the Muellers took a large loss on the facility. In 1927, Oscar Mueller exchanged his interest in Mueller Co. for the Port Huron plant, converting it into an independent brass tubing and fitting manufacturing enterprise under the name of Mueller Brass Company. Throughout the late 1920s, Mueller Co. opened additional sales and distribution offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, and Atlanta, though the Great Depression led to the closure of all of these offices. However, a production plant was opened in Los Angeles in 1933 in order to handle distribution for the company's still-growing market in the western United States. The Los Angeles plant remained in operation until 1977, when it was replaced by a new facility in Brea, California. Mueller Co. also acquired Columbia Iron Works, a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based manufacturer of hydrants and gate valves in 1933.
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Wikipedia