1893 - 1905

For more than 100 years, Attwood has been the unquestioned award-winning leader in design, development, testing, and manufacturing of the highest quality boat parts and accessories for the marine industry. Attwood was founded in 1893 by Charles F. Attwood as Attwood Brass Works, making parts for carriages and hearses.

By 1905, the company was providing parts to the thriving Great Lakes Maritime trade.

1923– 1960

When Christopher Smith began building recreational boats in 1923 (later to be named Chris-Craft) , Attwood had already been well-established as a trusted manufacturer of quality marine hardware.

After World War I, because of Attwood's reputation for fine fittings and foundry work, Chris Craft asked the company to supply brass fittings for large pleasure boats. Initially, Atwood specialized in underwater parts such as rudders, struts, strainers; and on deck hardware such as lights, cleats, chocks, and other marine parts.

From the beginning, Attwood became recognized for quality and fine engineering. Geared for low-volume production of high precision parts, quality control of its marine accessories has since become an Attwood tradition. Attwood accessories set the standard for stylish, practical, durable marine elegance.

1962 -

In the sixties, Attwood became part of the boating revolution that swept the industry — the advent of the fiberglass boat.

In 1962, Attwood opened its zinc die-casting and plating facility in Lowell, Michigan. The Lowell showboat Company and Lowell Board of Trade sold the land on North Monroe Street to Attwood for $1 to encourage industrial development in Lowell. The first building was 51,000 square feet. Cleats, chocks, and lights were the first accessories produced there. At this up-to-date automated facility, boat accessories were no longer hand-forged brass products, but were quality, mass-produce accessories.

1964 -

In 1964, Attwood became a wholly owned subsidiary of Steelcase, Inc., and in 1966 moved its Grand Rapids corporate offices to Lowell. At this time, Attwood was heavily involved as an automotive supplier; Ford was a major account. However, by the end of the sixties, long-range planning began to indicate potential problems if Attwood continued to concentrate on the auto industry. A decision was made to concentrate resources and talents on the marine industry and Steelcase.

1968 -

In 1968, steel plating was added and the new black chroming process was pioneered and refined as the company began serving the office furniture market in earnest.

1971 - 1973

To satisfy growing demands of the automotive and home appliance industries in 1971, Attwood added new painting facilities including masking, spraying, and over baking capabilities. Attwood also kept pace with the booming boat industry in the seventies, with the addition of 20,000 square feet the next year and another 97,000 square feet in 1973, to house new automated steel-plating line and plastic injection molding operation. The Grand Rapids foundry was closed in the mid-1970's.

1975 - 1978

In 1975, Attwood purchased the Leisure Products Division of Zurn Industries in Erie, Pennsylvania. This gave the company a successful line of over 100 marine and recreational accessories including many plastic products and the “Crowell” bilge pump. While Attwood had been a major supplier of boat hardware, the addition of Zurn Leisure Products made Attwood a major factor in the after market, allowing Attwood to enter the recreational vehicle field with a broad product line for the first time. The following year, the company erected another 67,000 square feet of warehousing space and added a sophisticated computerized picking system, which cut the time to process an order to a few hours.

1979 - 1985

By 1979, Attwood acquired the Viking Anchor Division of Brunswick Corporation, and Ingenious Devices, the company originator of “Rein Maker” Water Reins. Attwood's plant size tripled from 1962 to 1979, and increased total facility footage to over 400,000 square feet.

1986 - 1990

In 1986, Attwood was responsible for manufacturing the inner and outer shells of Steelcase's Sensor office chair. In order to handle the volume, Attwood added another 40,000 square feet and two new injection molding machines; one 700 ton and one 1000-ton machine. In 1987, Attwood became the supplier of casters for office chairs for Steelcase, and in 1990 was awarded “full certification” on the caster program as a result of demonstrating its support of Steelcase quality standards. Around this time, steel plating was discontinued.

1991 - 1992

In 1991, Attwood took over responsibility of purchasing all outside supplied plastic parts for Steelcase. A new 450-ton vertical shuttle press was even added for the “rally” office chair. During this time, Attwood purchased seven new robots for injection molding machines in an effort to increase manufacturing capabilities.

Executives were very optimistic for the growth of the boating industry as well. In 1990, Attwood was honored as “Supplier of the Year” by Four Winns, and won the NMDA “Manufacturer of the Year” award. Many new marine products were being introduced at national shows, such as the WaterBuster pump, which won the MotorBoat Magazine Product Innovation award. New product development and testing was taking place for marine products at Attwood's own testing facility in Panama City, Florida. In 1992, Attwood acquired the J.M. Roberts line of rod holders.

1993 -

In 1993, the Attwood turbo blowers were introduced. A new foundry was opened in Reynosa, Mexico to produce stainless steel propellers, and expand the marine products line even further. ISO 9002 certification was also achieved at this time.

1994 -

Attwood foundry in Reynosa, Mexico, opened in 1993 and closed in 1998. Attwood acquired L.S. Brown Co. in 1994. Attwood was becoming recognized even more as a top manufacturer of marine accessories when they received three NMDA awards in 1994:
“Manufacture of the Year”, “Best overall packaging award”, and Best marketing award”.

1995 -

In 1995, the Ballistic stainless steel propeller campaign began, featuring a bill board in Chicago for the Chicago boating show. In the same year, Attwood acquired SpringLift Corporation, and consolidated the Ballistic, R&D, and SpringLift products in one location- Mission, Texas, approximately ten miles from the Attwood de Mexico foundry in Reynosa, Mexico. In 1998, the Ballistic product line was sold to Michigan Wheel Corporation, and the Reynosa, Mexico foundry was sold to Fansteel.

2003 - Today

In 2003, Attwood was acquired by Brunswick Corporation. ISO 9000-2000 certification was achieved in 2004.

Also, in 2004 , Attwood acquired Swivl-Eze pedestal products.

Attwood is now acknowledged as the leader in innovative deck hardware and sets the industry standard for quality and reliability. In addition to hardware, Attwood has become a broadly diversified supplier of navigational lighting, pumps and blowers, fuel accessories, electrical products, gas springs, trailer components, boat seating, boat covers, and boat bimini tops.

Today, Attwood has over 170 employees with operations in Lowell, Michigan and Forest Park, Georgia. Our capabilities have grown to include Rapid Prototype Modeling for advanced product designs, one of the most complete and capable in-house Quality labs in the business, and automated bar-code systems to ship over 56,000 LTL (less than truckload) shipments a year.

Attwood Awards & Recognitions