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Cover art by Kent Harris
Written by Karen Aho
SwitchYard Media, Inc. - contact | website
Designed and produced by Kent Harris
Tin Can Rocket, LLC. - contact | website
A production of SwitchYard Media, Inc.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Holgate Toys
Holgate Toys
In 1789, Cornelius Holgate opened a wood shop outside Philadelphia, turning out broom handles and tools. The company evolved, and in 1929 Holgate Bros. began focusing on a line of patented tools designed to help children's hand-eye coordination.
With Jarvis Rockwell, the brother of Norman Rockwell, at the drafting table, Holgate Educational Toys began producing the wooden color cones and "bingo beds" that are still banged around on playroom floors everywhere.
Holgate's toys continue to be made from American hardwoods, in a factory in Bradford, Pa. They have never contained lead and are guaranteed for life.
Company Web site: Holgate Toys
Company: Holgate Toys
Founded: 1789
Address: 22 Lowell St., Pepperell, MA 01463
Phone: 1-800-343-8114, Ext. 24
E-mail: info@holgatetoy.com
Photo Credit: Courtesy Pointer Brand
Pointer Brand jeans
Clayton King loved his bird dogs. So when he built his factory in 1913, he named the outdoor-clothing line after his German shorthaired pointers. His heirs have stuck with the logo, along with the company's philosophy that a business is a community.
The Pointer Brand factory, which remains in downtown Bristol, Tenn., employs 45 people and still uses American-made materials -- not so easy as suppliers move overseas. These days its denim is woven at a mill in Liberty, S.C., from cotton grown in western Texas.
Pointer Brand jeans are available at small retailers, at farm co-ops and direct from the manufacturer online.
Company Web site: L.C. King Manufacturing
Company: L.C. King Manufacturing
Founded: 1913
Address: P.O. Box 367, Bristol, TN 37621
Phone: 1-800-826-2510
E-mail: info@pointerbrand.com
Photo Credit: Courtesy Staber Industries
Staber washers and dryers
The Stabers once had a good business rebuilding washers and dryers. But in the 1980s, companies started tossing rather than fixing their appliances. So the Stabers designed their own, with a twist: Their machines would be built to last and designed for easy repair by the end user.
And, in the event of trouble, owners can call the Groveport, Ohio, factory. If Jim Staber doesn't answer the phone himself, one of his 30 workers will.
The Staber washers are popular energy and water savers. Although they load from the top, their insides spin horizontally, like a front loader.
Company Web site: Staber Industries
Company: Staber Industries
Founded: 1976
Address: 4800 Homer Ohio Lane, Groveport OH 43125
Phone: 614-836-5995
E-mail: sales@staber.com
Photo Credit: Courtesy Heath Ceramics
Heath tableware
San Francisco potter Edith Heath opened her studio in 1948 and, while adding designs over the years, maintained her original line of elegant yet sturdy tableware. Plates and cups would last, and families could add to their collections for generations.
Today, Heath Ceramics strives for the same longevity and is committed to local production. It gets its clay from Sacramento, Calif., buys its parts in the U.S. and employs 70 workers at its small factory in Sausalito, Calif.
Heathware is available at its two California stores, directly online and from retailers throughout the country.
Company Web site: Heath Ceramics
Company: Heath Ceramics
Founded: 1940s
Address: 400 Gate Five Road, Sausalito, CA 94965
Phone: 415-332-3732 Ext. 13
E-mail: mail@heathceramics.com
Photo Credit: Courtesy Toyota
Toyota Camry Hybrid
Toyota, the maker of the popular 50-mile-per-gallon Prius, is making its first hybrid in North America in the form of a Camry. Since launching production in Kentucky in October 2006, U.S. workers have churned out more than 100,000 Toyota Camry hybrids. The car gets about 40 mpg.
The Georgetown, Ky., plant employs 7,000 workers and uses predominantly American parts. Rated on the price of parts, the Camry hybrid's domestic content is only 45%25, but that percentage is expected to rise.
Toyota has been manufacturing cars in the States since 1988. The Kentucky plant, its largest here, also makes the Avalon, Venza, Solara and standard Camry.
Company: Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky
Founded: 1937 (company), 1988 (plant)
Address: 1001 Cherry Blossom Way, Georgetown, KY 40324
Photo Credit: Courtesy Worksman Cycles
Worksman bicycles and tricycles
In 1898, Morris Worksman, a Russian immigrant, opened a toy store in Manhattan. Because he enjoyed tinkering with the bikes, he soon found himself making custom cycles for area merchants, including a Good Humor ice cream man.
Worksman Cycles, now in Queens, N.Y., continues to deliver specially designed bicycles to industry. Made to hold hefty foremen, they are thick and sturdy. When other U.S. bicycle companies moved overseas in the 1980s and '90s, Worksman stayed, committed to American labor and parts.
People who aren't in a hurry -- the bikes weigh 50 pounds -- can custom-design a stylish recreational Worksman Cruiser online. The frames are guaranteed for 10 years.
Company Web site: Worksman Cycles
Shop for Worksman parts and accessories
Company: Worksman Cycles
Founded: 1898
Address: 94-15 100th St., Ozone Park, NY 11416
Phone: 1-888-394-3353
E-mail: cycles@worksman.com
Photo Credit: Courtesy Buck Knives
Buck Knives
Every Buck knife was handmade in the United States from 1902 until the age of Wal-Mart, when the company outsourced some models to compete on the discounter's shelves. But customers who saw Buck and "made in China" balked -- and let the company know it.
A fourth-generation family business, Buck decided to streamline its manufacturing in the States instead. Though some models designated for chain retailers are still imported, most of the company's knives are cut from U.S. steel at its new plant in Post Falls, Idaho, which employs 244 people.
Buck produces an iconic hunting knife but also makes kitchen knives and pocketknives. All come with lifetime warranties.
Company Web site: Buck Knives
Company: Buck Knives
Founded: 1902
Address: 660 S. Lochsa St., Post Falls, ID 83854
Phone: 1-800-326-2825
E-mail: factorystore@buckknives.com
Photo Credit: Courtesy Teddie Peanut Butter
Teddie peanut butter
Michael Hintlian, an Armenian immigrant, started in the business his family knew: candy. Along with a partner, he opened a candy and nut factory in 1924. But then the Depression hit, and it was peanut butter, a cheap protein, that took off.
Teddie Old Fashioned Peanut Butter, named after the partner's son, Teddie Leavitt, is still a Hintlian family business. It uses only domestic peanuts -- from Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas -- and does all the roasting, grinding and packing at its Everett, Mass., factory, which employs about 70 workers.
Company Web site: Leavitt
Company: Leavitt
Founded: 1924
Address: 100 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA 02149
Phone: 617-389-2600
E-mail: contact@teddie.com
Photo Credit: Courtesy Faribault Mills
Faribault Mills blankets
Once there were hundreds and hundreds ofwoolen mills in the U.S.; now there are three. The mills moved first to Southern states, then to the Far East. Faribault Mills, opened in 1865, has stayed in Faribault, Minn., and is now the only vertical mill left in the U.S., meaning it manufactures every step. It transforms raw fiber into yarn and yarn into finished blankets.
At its mill in Westminster, S.C., Faribault uses American materials when they're available -- easily 95%25 of the wool and all the cotton. Faribault blankets can be found at chain retailers and online; a queen-sized cotton blanket sells at Sears for $44.95.
Company Web site: Faribault Mills
Company: Faribault Mills
Founded: 1865
Address: 1819 Second Ave. N.W., Faribault, MN 55021
Phone: 1-800-448-9665
E-mail: store@faribaultmills.com
Photo Credit: Courtesy Nalgene
Nalgene water bottles
The Nalgene water bottle, now the symbol of the hip environmentalist, began life as a beaker smuggled outdoors by lab geeks. The president of Nalge, a chemical company, took note and in the 1970s developed a division to market the hardy, lightweight containers as camping gear.
Nalgene bottles are manufactured in Rochester, N.Y., and now have a family of spinoffs: toddler bottles, tiny storage containers, even hydration packs.
When health concerns arose concerning the chemical bisphenol A, used in the bottle's polycarbonate lining, Nalgene began producing BPA-free bottles.
Company Web site: Nalge Nunc International
Company: Nalge Nunc International
Founded: 1949
Address: 75 Panorama Creek Drive, Rochester, NY 14625
Phone: 1-800-625-4327