Iconic History

1890s

• John K Stewart forms Chicago Flexible Shaft Co. With lifelong friend Thomas Clark
• Stewart & Clark from Sterk Mfg. Co. To produce speedometers & automobile horns

1900s

• Stewart & Clark Mfg. CO. Formed; plant built on Diversey in Chicago
• Clark killed while demonstrating speedometer in Packard; Stewart acquires Clark’s assets.

1910s

• Stewart buys rival Warner Instrument Company; forms Stewart-Warner Speedometer corp.
• Stewart opens Stewart Phonograph Co; later expands to include radios and televisions
• At 47 years of age, JK Stewart dies from a stroke

1920s

• Jones Speedometers co. Purchased; centrifugal speedometer added to portfolio
• Stewart-Warner acquires Bassick-Alemite Corp., becomes market leader in vacuum tanks
• Net sales top $25MM; Stewart-Warner enters rapidly growing radio market
• Stewart-Warner established as LARGEST manufacturer of automotive accessories
• Chicago Plant expansion to 1 million sq ft.

1930s

• New products included power brakes, hydraulic shock absorbers, fuel pumps & carburetors
• Name changed officially to Stewart-Warner Corp.; stock markets crash limits Q4 sales
• Company experiences first-ever operating loss as sales drop 20% during depression
• Power braking system adopted by Pierce-Arrow; new movie cameras & refrigerators
• Motion picture cameras & Projectors dropped; radios and refrigerators redesigned
• Radios & refrigerators turn their first profit; automobile heater introduced (Southwind)
• Marmom plant in Indianapolis purchased for its refrigerators & Kitchen appliances

1940s

• Operations converted to support war effort; radio & electronics business given new life
• Stewart-Warner plant in Amboy, IL produces shells, bombs, grenades & fuses
• Stewart-Warner listed as one of the top 100 military products suppliers
• Total military products sales total $330 MM from 1940-1945: $2B in today’s dollars

1950s

• Military sales total $194 MM from 1950-1953 in support of the U.S. effort in Korea
• End of radio & TV production; focus shifts to non-alliance-related electronics
• Purchased Hobbs Corp. & Aero Div. Of Cornelius Company; added datafax to portfolio

1960s

• Less than 13% of total dollar volume from OEM passenger cars; shift to industrial focus
• Deluxe™ Line of instruments was introduced
• Introduced custom Deluxe™ instruments
• Deluxe™ line instruments to Carroll Shelby for the Cobra

1970s

Built groundbreaking electronic scoreboard for Toronto Blue Jays MLB stadium

1980s

British Tyre & Rubber purchases Stewart-Warner & moves production to Juarez; Diversey facility closed soon after

1990s

• British Tyre & Rubber Sells SW to group of investors
• Wings™ line reintroduced shortly thereafter
• Massive fire destroyed Chicago Diversey Plant

2000s

• Competition (SWP) Performance line launched ushering in a rebirth of the product
• New products features; return of Green Line™
• Stewart-Warner was sold to the Actuant Corporation

2010s

Stewart-Warner was sold to CentroMotion.

Some historical information and images were shared by The Made in Chicago Museum, which is home to an archive of historical artefacts from the Chicagoland area. To learn more, please visit their website at https://www.madeinchicagomuseum.com/