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Brunswick history
Brunswick company history timeline
The J. M. Brunswick Manufacturing Company opened for business on September 15, 1845, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Company's first billiards table was produced in 1845 for a successful Cincinnati meatpacker.
He made his way to Cincinnati, where in 1845 he built one of the first billiard tables in the country.
In 1846, Maine passed the first state temperance law.
Brunswick billiard tables were a commercial success, and the business expanded and opened the first of what would become many branch offices in Chicago, Illinois, in 1848.
In 1858 the business was reorganized as J. M. Brunswick & Brother.
Brunswick was founded by John Moses Brunswick who came to the United States from Switzerland at the age of 15. It was later renamed J. M. Brunswick & Brother by 1860, after a family member came on board, and the company's slogan at this time was: "The oldest and most extensive billiard table manufacturers in the United States".
In 1866, the company was renamed J. M. Brunswick & Brothers when Emanuel Brunswick joined Joseph and John Brunswick as a principal in the firm.
Following John Brunswick's death in 1866, the company's new leadership aggressively expanded the firm's product line.
The Library, a masterpiece in wood, was originally built in 1872 by craftsmen under the personal supervision of John Brunswick.
During the 1870s Brunswick's half-brothers left the firm to start rival firms and billiard parlors in Chicago and San Francisco. It is not entirely clear under what circumstances each of them left but by 1872 Brunswick's son-in-law, Moses Bensinger, and two longtime employees were vice-presidents at Brunswick.
In 1874, the Brunswick company merged with competitor Great Western Billiard Manufactory owned by Julius Balke to become the J. M. Brunswick & Balke Company.
In 1879 Phelan & Collender was acquired.
He was succeeded by H. M. Collender, who served as president until his own death in 1890.
He would also play an important role in establishing the American Bowling Congress in 1895.
Bensinger also was instrumental in organizing the American Bowling Congress in 1895.
The first ABC tournament using standard rules took place in Chicago in 1901.
In 1904, upon the death of his father, Benjamin Bensinger became the president of Brunswick-Balke-Collender, at age 36.
The firm had several sales offices, and manufacturing plants in Chicago, Cincinnati, Dubuque, and New York, and in 1906 Bensinger opened a large manufacturing plant in Muskegon, Michigan.
The 1906 formation of the Anti-Saloon League accelerated and intensified the movement, as bars were attacked and busted up.
In 1906, a revolutionary rubber bowling ball, Brunswick's Mineralite, is introduced.
In the meantime, Brunswick-Balke-Collender was incorporated in 1907.
Brunswick-Balke-Collender moved its headquarters from Cincinnati to Chicago in 1908.
Brunswick, which had toyed with the idea of an automatic pinsetter as early as 1911, had to develop a working pinsetter quickly or risk losing its domination of the bowling market.
Since joining the Company in 1911, inventor Ernest Hedenskoog is determined to create an automatic pinsetting machine.
He began cutting back on the production of the beautiful, expensive bars, ending production in 1912, seven years before the passage of national Prohibition.
In 1912, Brunswick introduced the first rubber toilet seat, the Whale-Bone-Ite.
In 1912 Brunswick suspended its bar-fixtures operations, which accounted for one-fourth of annual sales, and sought to replace it with automobile tires and the world's first hard-rubber toilet seats.
By 1916 the Muskegon plant was producing Brunswick phonographs and putting them on the market for $150--40 percent less than comparable models.
In 1916, Brunswick introduced a model that sold for $150 (about $3700 today) but was the equal of competitors’ models priced at $250.
Bob Bensinger had worked for the firm since 1919 and with his brother, Ted, guided Brunswick through the Great Depression.
The first record under the Brunswick Record label appeared in stores in 1920, and big stars soon followed with exclusive recording contracts - Duke Ellington (pictured here), Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, among other legendary musicians.
By 1921 the Muskegon plant was producing 2,000 tires a day.
Then the price of rubber tripled in 1922, Brunswick sold its tire line to B.F. Goodrich, who began to manufacture tires under the Brunswick name as the Brunswick Tire Company.
The first Brunswick record was produced in 1922.
Brunswick-Balke-Collender went public in 1924, allowing outsiders to own stock in the company for the first time.
In 1925, Brunswick joined with General Electric to produce the first all-electric phonograph (as opposed to hand-cranked), the Panatrope, for $350 and up.
1928’s record sales of $29 million dried up.
Benjamin Bensinger’s oldest son Robert assumed the Presidency in 1930, an inauspicious time to take the helm of any company. “Bob” Bensinger was thirty-two years old and had eleven years’ experience at the company.
In 1930, Brunswick sold the control of the record company to Warner Brothers and came out with a line of refrigerators.
In 1932, the sales figure was $3.9 million, a drop of almost 90%. Few companies were hit that hard even in the Great Depression, but most of Brunswick’s revenue was from recreational spending.
In 1932 Brunswick sponsors a World Tournament, with Ralph Greenleaf placing first and Jimmy Caras second.
Mercury was founded by E. Carl Kiekhaefer in 1939 when he purchased a bankrupt engine manufacturing plant in Cedarburg, Wis.
Brunswick was back in business, registering $20 million in sales in 1942.
In 1946, AMF began to introduce their automatic pinsetters.
The company had also entered the school furniture business, seeing the coming boom in education and school construction. (Most Americans have experienced the award-winning Brunswick school chair.) Sales rose to $30 million in 1948.
Brunswick was literally “behind the eight ball.” And, in 1950, Bob’s brother Ted was named President of the company, with Bob remaining as Chairman of the Board.
At first, they did not work, but by 1952 AMF was successfully producing its machines, branded “AMF Pinspotters.” Alley owners and bowlers loved them.
The Company redesigns its facilities to accommodate the contract and subsequently establishes a Defense Product Group in 1952.
In 1954 Brunswick formed the Pinsetter Corporation with Murray Corporation of America.
By the time the pinsetters were in production in 1955, Brunswick had bought out Murray, and Brunswick aggressively sold its machine to a rapidly expanding market.
1956 Brunswick begins production of automatic pinsetters for bowling alleys.
Since 1957, the Brunswick Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, has sought to enhance the interests of Brunswick Corporation employees and the communities in which they live and work, as well as support causes and projects that complement the business interests of the Company.
The Company purchases the remaining 50 percent of Murray Corporation in 1957.
Boston Whaler was created in 1958 when Richard T. Fisher – a Harvard-educated engineer by trade and a boater by choice – in partnership with naval designer C. Raymond Hunt, first introduced Boston Whaler at the New York Boat Show.
In development since 1958, it’s the debut year of the AR6100 series Gold Crown™ table.
Brunswick also sought firms outside recreational sports, and in 1959 it purchased A.S. Aloe and entered the medical-supply business.
An extensive 1959 article in Fortune magazine entitled “Brunswick’s Automatic Money- Maker” included Ted’s remark that the company would become “The Mr.
In 1959, Brunswick bought the AS Aloe Company, a medical supply house in St Louis.
In 1960 the company changed its name to Brunswick Corporation.
Seven years later, in 1961, profits were $45 million on sales of $422 million.
Brunswick acquired Mercury Marine in 1961.
Jack Hanigan was brought in as president in November 1963 to handle Brunswick’s financial problems.
In 1965 he formed a technical and new-business division which developed, among other things, Brunsmet, a metal-fiber product.
1965 In the wake of a crash of the bowling industry, Brunswick begins acquiring bowling centers.
In 1967 Hanigan merged this division and the defense division into the technical-products division.
Founded in 1970, Cybex offers a full line of cardiovascular and strength products largely serving the commercial fitness market.
Brunswick purchases a plant near Dublin to manufacture and assemble bowling equipment; the plant was closed in 1972.
The 1973-74 oil embargo caused problems at Brunswick, particularly in its profitable marine-engine division, but the company was able to further diversify its products and remained strong.
The Mariner brand, named to create an image of reliability and durability, was launched in the United States and Europe in 1975
Hanigan retired as chairman and CEO in 1976 and was replaced by K. Brooks Abernathy.
Jack Reichert, president of the Marine group, became president of Brunswick in 1977 as sales topped $1 billion for the first time.
In 1977 Brunswick won an innovation award at the International Marine Trades Exhibit and Conference for its voice-activated Lazer trolling motor.
Not content, Brunswick moved into energy and transportation control systems by acquiring Vapor Corporation for $90 million in 1978, as well as actively expanding its international markets.
In 1981, Brunswick’s profits set a record at $66 million on sales of $1.1 billion.
Whittaker was forced to withdraw its offer when American Home Products stepped in as a white knight, and Sherwood was sold to American Home Products in March 1982 for $425 million in Brunswick stock.
In April 1982 Reichert took over as CEO of Brunswick.
In 1985 Brunswick funds the complete restoration of the Brunswick Library.
In 1986 Brunswick acquired two pleasure-boat manufacturers, Bayliner Marine Corporation and Ray Industries (maker of Sea Ray boats), for $773 million.
In 1986 the company bought Bayliner marine and Ray Industries, (maker of Sea Ray) for nearly $1 billion.
These purchases, along with the acquisitions of MonArk Boat, Marine Group, Fisher Marine, and Starcraft Power Boats in 1988, made Brunswick the world's largest manufacturer of pleasure boats and marine engines.
That string of record years ended in 1989, when restructuring charges arising from a downturn in the marine market resulted in a net loss.
The company returned to profitability in 1990.
In February 1993 the company announced that it would divest its technical group.
Peter N. Larson was named CEO in April 1995, and added the title of chairman that October.
In anticipation of this expansion, Brunswick in the fall of 1995 created an Indoor Recreation Group to encompass the bowling and billiards operations, while an Outdoor Recreation Group featured the Zebco fishing equipment business.
The sale of the businesses would not be final until 1995.
Brunswick Corporation acquired Boston Whaler, “The Unsinkable Legend,” in 1995
In early 1996 the company acquired Nelson/Weather-Rite, a unit of Roadmaster Industries Inc. that made camping equipment, for $120 million.
In 1996 the company was ranked one of the top leisure-time companies in the S&P 500.
By 1996 the company's tides turned with its move into both camping and bicycling with the purchase of American Camper and Roadmaster Bicycles.
"fortune 500 largest u.s. corporations." fortune, 28 april 1997.
Late in 1997, the Company introduces the Ride Hard bicycle brand.
In 1997 Brunswick had a 16-percent increase in sales, a 21-percent increase in operating earnings, and a 15-percent increase in net earnings.
Officers: Peter N. Larson, Chmn. & CEO, 58, 1997 base salary $800,000; Peter B. Hamilton, CFO & Sr.
VP, 51, 1997 base salary $400,000; Richard S. O'Brien, VP & Treasurer, 48; Kathryn J. Chieger, VP Corporate & Investor Relations, 49
In 1997 some of Brunswick's advertisements emphasized the company's experience rather than each product's selling points.
In 1997, Brunswick purchased the Roadmaster bicycle division, one of the last United States manufacturers of low-cost, mass-market bicycles.
The Environmental Protection Agency mandated emissions for marine engines that were significantly lower beginning in 1998.
Eventually the company began settling the claims out of court, and in 1999 Brunswick recorded a charge of $116 million to cover the costs of the settlements.
In 1999, Brunswick sold its Roadmaster bicycle division and brand to Pacific Cycle.
But this move was soon deemed a half-measure by the company board, which ousted Larson from the CEO slot in June 2000 to pave the way for a more fundamental overhaul.
As for the remainder of the decade, Brunswick was likely to continue to seek out acquisitions of market leaders in active recreation since it had set a goal of achieving $5 billion in sales by 2000.
In late 2000, the Company sells Mongoose and Roadmaster.
A pretax loss of nearly $410 million recorded in connection with these discontinued operations led to a net loss of $95.8 million for 2000.
Early in 2000 Brunswick announced a restructuring of its troubled bicycle division, which continued to be buffeted by competition from lower-cost producers in China and Taiwan.
Dustan E. McCoy was immediately selected to succeed Buckley as chairman and CEO, having served as president of the Brunswick Boat Group since its founding in 2000.
2000 Company launches program to divest its outdoor brands and narrow focus to marine engines, pleasure boats, and bowling, billiards, and fitness equipment.
In 2001, Brunswick acquired Hatteras Yachts from Genmar Industries for approximately $80 million in cash.
In the meantime, Brunswick in 2002 successfully launched the Bayliner 175, which at a package price under $10,000 was the least expensive Bayliner offered in several years.
2002 Company expands into marine electronics by acquiring Northstar Technologies, Inc.
They generated combined sales of $311 million for the year ending in June 2003.
Later in 2003, the Life Fitness cardio team redefines all of its industry leading 90 Series product designs and colors for commercial fitness facilities.
Also in 2003, the company began building a significant business in boat parts and accessories by purchasing Land 'N' Sea Corporation and Attwood Corporation.
Building on its longstanding expertise in billiards, Brunswick in 2003 also acquired Valley-Dynamo, LP, a maker of not only pool tables but also air hockey and foosball tables.
Then in December 2004 Brunswick edged into the saltwater fishing boat sector by spending $50.1 million for Sea Pro Boats, Inc. and Sea Boss Boats, LLC, makers of the Sea Pro, Palmetto, and Sea Boss brands.
Brunswick purchased the remaining shares in Navman in 2004.
Among numerous new products launched in 2004, the most significant was the Verado engine, a four-stroke model, and the first turbocharged outboard, and one that was quieter than the competition, more fuel efficient, and less polluting.
Brunswick also sought to bolster its international sales in 2004 by forming an umbrella organization, Brunswick European Group, for its marine operations in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
In 2004, Brunswick acquired Lowe Boats.
In May 2005 Brunswick purchased Triton Boat Company, L.P., a leading maker of fiberglass bass and saltwater and aluminum fishing boats based in Ashland City, Tennessee.
Given his success at so boldly turning the company's fortunes around, it was no surprise that Buckley would become a candidate to run an even larger enterprise, and in December 2005 he left the firm to become chairman, CEO, and president of 3M Company.
The acquisitions spree continued in 2005.
The latter was the company's fastest-growing business; its 2005 revenues of $356 million represented a 76 percent jump over the previous year.
Production of coin-operated billiards tables begins to move in 2006.
In 2006, Life Fitness also creates the F3 treadmill – a machine that combines durability with space-efficiency in the home.
Along with the acquisition of Diversified Marine Products in 2006, Brunswick becomes the largest distribution network of marine parts and accessories in North America.
When George Buckley, CEO at the time, left to join 3M in 2006, new leadership decided to sell Northstar, Navman and Mx-Marine.
He joined Brunswick in 2007, and for ten years was head of product development at Mercury Marine, where he led the development of Mercury's award-winning line-up of market-leading outboard engines.
In 2008, Brunswick brands introduced several innovative products throughout the year, including: • MerCruiser's Axius and Zeus systems, the world's first fully intuitive joystick piloting systems for precise, worry-free vessel control.
Valley-Dynamo was sold in 2008.
The Cypress Cay line of pontoons was launched for the 2008 model year and its model line-up included the Cabana, Angler, Cozumel and Cancun.
Launching mid-way through the 2011 model year, Cypress Cay introduced the Cayman to its model line-up.
The highly anticipated engine - winner of the prestigious 2011 International Boatbuilders Exhibition and Conference Innovation Award – quickly becomes the new top choice for offshore, inshore bay, flats, aluminum, bass, pontoon, runabout, RIBs and aluminum bass boats.
Sea Ray’s 370 Venture was named “Boat of the Year 2012” by the editors of Boating magazine.
The sale is completed in early 2013
A billiards icon, the Brunswick Billiards Gold Crown table marked its Golden Anniversary in 2013.
Pictured to the left is the 350 SLX, introduced in 2013
Since 2013, Brunswick has made several key acquisitions to expand its marine parts and accessories operation –in both manufacturing as well as distribution.
Brunswick sold its Hatteras/Cabo brand in 2013 to Versa Capital Management.
The company said it was making these changes to focus on its “core” Marine and Fitness businesses, which provided 92% of company net revenues in 2013.
On July 17, 2014, Brunswick announced plans to leave the bowling business by the end of 2014.
The sale of the bowling center business to Bowlmor AMF (Bowlero) was completed in September 2014.
Brunswick completed its exit from the bowling business in May 2015 with the sale of its bowling equipment and products division to BlueArc Capital Management, a private investment firm.
Mercury Marine, for the first time, is named one of America’s Best 500 Employers for 2015 by Forbes Magazine.
Brunswick acquired Thunder Jet, a designer and builder of heavy-gauge aluminum (HGA) boats, and Heyday Boats, ski and wake boat brand, in 2016.
In 2017, on the eve of its sixth decade, Boston Whaler kicked off a celebration of its Unsinkable legacy with a weeklong series of events, heralding an exciting future to come.
Mercury Marine rejuvenated and expanded of its outboard engine portfolio, culminating with the largest introduction of new outboard models in early 2018 -- nearly 20 next-generation V-8 and V-6 FourStroke outboard engine models.
David Foulkes became Brunswick’s Chief Executive Officer in January 2019, succeeding Mark Schwabero, who retired.
In May 2019, Brunswick announced it would be purchasing the largest marine franchisor in the United States, Freedom Boat Club.
The sale was completed in June 2019.
BlueArc continues to produce bowling balls under the Brunswick and DV8 brand names, and on November 15, 2019, it acquired Ebonite International and all of its bowling product brands.
In 2019, Brunswick announced the launch of a new business structure in Advanced Systems Group (ASG) and named Brett Dibkey as President.
2019 will mark the 60th anniversary of Sea Ray at the helm of defining the boating lifestyle.
Also in 2019, Brunswick announced a new business structure, Advanced Systems Group (ASG) and named Brett Dibkey as President.
"Brunswick Corporation ." International Directory of Company Histories. . Encyclopedia.com. (June 21, 2022). https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/brunswick-corporation-1
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Brunswick competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Products | 2013 | $280.0M | 971 | - |
| Colfax Corporation | 1860 | $2.1B | 15,000 | 129 |
| Alcoa | 1888 | $11.9B | 14,600 | 34 |
| Paris | 1964 | $102.0M | 100 | 18 |
| Safari | 1982 | $21.0M | 175 | 8 |
| ADM | 1902 | $85.2B | 38,100 | 886 |
| Frenchman Valley Coop | 1912 | $265.6M | 100 | - |
| Mid-American Products | - | $850,000 | 5 | - |
| Hebert Candies | 1917 | $1.9M | 13 | - |
| Atkins Nutritional | 1989 | $78,000 | 5 | - |
Brunswick history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Brunswick, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Brunswick. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Brunswick. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Brunswick. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Brunswick and its employees or that of Zippia.
Brunswick may also be known as or be related to Brunswick, Brunswick Corporation and Brunswick Product Protection Corporation of Florida.