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Overhead Door company history timeline

1921

In 1921 Johnson and Detroit attorney Forest E. McKee formed a company to manufacture and market the invention, A year later, McKee's brother, Paul W. McKee, a bank cashier, joined the company as well.

1923

The company began efforts to promote its product, first demonstrating it at the 1923 New York automobile show.

The history of Genie dated back to 1923 and the founding of Alliance Manufacturing Company, named after the city its was based in--Alliance, Ohio.

The town boosters lined up shareholders to provide the funding the company needed to build a manufacturing plant in the small town. It was at a demonstration in 1923 at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis that members of the Hartford City, Indiana, Chamber of Commerce saw Johnson's door and invited him to make an appearance at Hartford City's annual fall fair.

1951

Following the death of Forest McKee in 1951, his brother Paul assumed the presidency.

1954

They invented the automatic sliding door in 1954 and essentially started a new industry.

1960

They began to sell their automatic doors in 1960, installing the first one in a hotel restaurant in Corpus Christi.

1966

In 1966 the company acquired a West Coast manufacturer that added rolling metal doors to its slate of products.

1968

Also in 1968 Overhead Door added hydraulic lift gates for trucks and trailers by acquiring Watson-Atlas Co.

1970

1970: Horton Automatics is acquired.

1973

The company opened in 1973 and now consists of (3) official Overhead Door™ Distributors and (8) warehouse locations throughout Maryland, DC, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

1974

Sanwa was founded in Hyogo, Japan, in 1956. Its relationship to Overhead Door dated back to 1974, when the two companies forged a technical alliance.

1983

In 1983, the company diversified by adding home and shop vacuums and two years later introduced a trash compactor.

1984

In 1984, for instance, it acquired Veach-May-Wilson Inc., a Tennessee company that manufactured hardwood flooring for trucks and trailers.

1985

Dallas Corporation introduced more than 20 new products in 1985, but the company appeared to have attempted to grow too quickly and was left vulnerable when housing starts declined and the truck and trailer industry fell into a slump.

1988

In late 1988, the company decided to return its focus on the garage-door business and took steps to sell off four units that made hardwood flooring and other residential building products.

1989

In 1989, the company was taken private when a management team in concert with New York securities firm Bessemer Capital Partners engineered a $180 million leveraged buyout.

1990

1990: Dallas Corporation name reverts back to the Overhead Door Corporation moniker.

2000

In 2000 Overhead Door restructured its operations but did not explain the reasons behind the move.

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Founded
1921
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Headquarters
Lewisville, TX
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Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Overhead Door, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Overhead Door. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Overhead Door. 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 Overhead Door. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Overhead Door and its employees or that of Zippia.

Overhead Door may also be known as or be related to Overhead Door, Overhead Door Company, Overhead Door Corp. and Overhead Door Corporation.