A boy named John Hartzell began
selling lightning rods from his wagon in 1860s Indiana. By 1875 he started his
own company, Hartzell Farm Wagon Company.
His son George joined the family business by 1890 and they continued to
mill lumber and make quality farm wagons.
George eventually took over the business from his father, John, and
moved it from Greenville to Piqua, Ohio.
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| Original Hartzell residence in Oakwood |
In 1906, George Hartzell moved his
family to a little village called Oakwood and used the property’s workshop to innovate
his business. About a decade later,
Hartzell’s home burned down but he rebuilt a glorious new home and workshop for
his family. Orville Wright lived just a
block away from the Hartzell family in his Hawthorn Hill estate. When World War
I began there was a demand for manufacturing and Hartzell’s company machined
and produced gun stocks for the war effort.
George’s son Robert was interested
in flight and was taking family business when his neighbor and friend, Orville,
mentioned to him that he should make propellers out of walnut wood for
planes. This conversation happened in
1917, right when the United States entered the war. Robert Hartzell jumped on this idea and began
producing walnut propellers in at the family’s factory.
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| Orville's home in red, Hartzell's in blue |
Robert founded the Hartzell Walnut
Propeller Company in Piqua, and even began making his own planes. The planes he designed, built, and flew won
many air races around the country in the 1920s, but decided to stop manufacturing
aircraft as he didn’t want to compete with the companies he was making
propellers for. Hartzell continued on in
the propeller business, switching to metal with the advent of new
technology. The company is still
producing propellers today. It is fun to
think that from one suggestion of a neighbor, albeit a famous genius neighbor,
a company changed paths and is still successful today.
Source:
http://hartzellprop.com/about/history/
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