Ridge Tool 100th Anniversary

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Ridge Tool Company.  Every workman knows the Ridgid brand for its quality and strength.  Here is the story of a small tool shop- started in North Ridgeville, that now provides tools to tradesmen across the globe.

The year was 1917 and a new tool company had been formed here in North Ridgeville.  It was called the Schwartz- Van Wormer Co. and it was incorporated to manufacture machinery and tools by Martin Schwartz, L. N. Van Wormer, W. A. Schmittgen, R. Van Wormer and Nelson Van Wormer.  The company was incorporated with $25.000 capital and bought and began using the former Kiser Machine Works factory on the southeast corner of Center Ridge and Avon Belden Rd.  This shop became quite successful manufacturing parts and tools for the WWI effort including gun parts, machines used the make artillery shells and parts for the manufacture of “aeroplanes”.  In 1920 a Chronicle Telegram headline reported “the Schwartz-Van Wormer Company Rapidly Becoming one of Elyria’s Large Plants”.  Following the war, the shop was able to transition to peacetime work-making automobile parts, molds for rubber pieces and special machinery for custom uses.  Floor space was doubled and the company was prepared to take its place in the tool world.  Sadly, just a few months later they were forced to declare bankruptcy due to extensive debts.  But the building would not be empty for long…

A man named William Thewes lived on Avon Belden and he enjoyed working in the machine shop of is back yard neighbor, Martin Schwartz.  Thewes enjoyed tinkering with things and was interested in improving a pipe wrench that had been invented in 1869 by Daniel Stillson.  Before the Stillson adjustable wrench came along, workmen would have to carry a large assortment of fixed size pipe wrenches from job to job to accommodate the poorly standardized nut sizes in use at the time.  The Stillson wrench was invented with an adjustable jaw for this purpose and had been in use for many years, but Thewes thought it could be improved upon.  What he imagined changed the world of pipe wrenches.  The Stillson wrench was adjustable with straight jaws that could grip pipe tightly.  Thewes proposed a slanted jaw on the wrench that would provide additional gripping power for pipes of varying sizes and shapes.  Thewes applied for a patent for this improvement in 1922 and this would become the original RIDGID wrench to be produced by a new business- the Ridge Tool and Machine Company.

Carl and Jennie Ingwer, A. G. Smith and William and Barbara Thewes became principal shareholders of the new business, and we believe it was named for its location- Center Ridge in North Ridgeville.  They bought out the assets of the Schwartz- Van Wormer Company including the building, land and machinery, and began making renovations to the building.  In early 1923 production of the Thewes wrench was started – marketing the product under the name RIDGID.  Long time residents claim this name was chosen to show the strength of the products.  In May of 1926 the company name was changed to simply Ridge Tool and in 1927 a news article reported “The Ridge Tool is a large exporter; tools made by the company are shipped to Canada, Italy, Sweden, England and Mexico”.

The company was not without its troubles.  In 1932 the “new” North Ridgeville Volunteer Fire Dept. had one of their first major calls to tend to a fire at the Ridge Tool building.  The new fire department was able to use water from an underground cistern beneath the building to extinguish the blaze- thereby keeping the cost of the damage down to $500.  Forty-Five workers were employed at the business during this time.

An early reminiscence of the business by a long -time resident states:      “Located on the southeast corner, The Ridge Tool factory stood on the corner of Center Ridge and Rt. 83.  I had lived there about 4 years when they made a big addition in 1937 and expanded for offices.  The rest of it was manufacturing and they made a new loading zone for shipping and receiving.  On the east side they came down and added offices and manufacturing space.  They bought a home owned by Holtwick and the home got moved a half mile south on the west side of Rt. 83 so the Ridge Tool could have more room for parking for their employees.  At that time they had a big two-cylinder diesel that made the power for the plant.  After the addition they made a building for the 5 -cylinder engine to make more electricity for the plant.  The plant ran 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.  In the summertime it hummed.  At noon the machines would stop for lunch and it would get quiet.  In the back they had two big tanks, 10,000 gallons each of oil for the diesel engines.  The Ridge Tool was the hub of the town.  During the depression the Ridge Tool kept running and some men had a chance to work.  In 1932 it slowed down, but by 1937 it expanded and got going again.  In the middle of WWII it moved out of Ridgeville and moved to Elyria when they had a chance to buy the Bender Body shop* because that plant couldn’t make school bus bodies anymore.   The government took the steel during WWII, so the plant couldn’t operate making school bus bodies.  When the Plant moved out of town the five- cylinder diesel was moved to Shawville train station and it was sent to Texas.  The Harrison Tool Company bought the building and started manufacturing.”

By 1942 Ridge Tool had outgrown the facility in North Ridgeville and, with no room for expansion, the business was moved to the former Garford Automobile Company building*, a location where one of the founders, Carl Ingwar, had previously worked.  Thus ended the importance Ridge Tool made in North Ridgeville, however the importance of North Ridgeville workers to Ridge Tool is still evident to this day.  Many of us have had a family member working at the business throughout the years- some even contributing to the success of the business by filing for the own patents for new innovative tools.

We’re pleased to be a part of the heritage of Ridge Tool and congratulate them on 100 years of manufacturing quality, dependable tools.  They currently have a 27 acre campus in Elyria with a 500,000 square foot manufacturing facility, a state-of-the-art technology lab, and a service center.  They also have facilities in Brazil, Ireland, Belgium, Germany and China.

And to think it all started with a wrench!

*Ridge Tool’s current building in Elyria holds a significant part in history as well- it was built in 1905 by the Garford Truck Company and was used to manufacture Garford Automobiles and later Garford-Studebaker automobiles.  Then, in 1913, was it became Willys-Overland, who used it to manufacture automobile engines.  It was empty from 1932 to 1936 and was purchased in 1939 by the Bender Brothers, who used it to manufacture travel trailer and school bus bodies. Their timing was not good, and, when steel was set aside for war efforts during WWII, they were forced to close this enterprise in 1941- just in time for Ridge Tool to expand and relocate to Elyria

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