The L.S. Starrett Company history

Ambitiously seeking out new markets for his inventions, he made his name known worldwide by establishing agencies in London and Paris in 1882.

The enterprise was incorporated in 1900, with Starrett as president and treasurer; along with him, four other members constituted the stockholders and directors.

1905 postcard of the L.S. Starrett Manufacturing Company, Athol, Massachusetts

By the time its founder died in 1922, the Athol factory was being hailed as the largest plant in the world wholly devoted to making fine mechanical tools.

In 1934, as the nation was slowly emerging from the depths of the Great Depression, assets were down to $3.8 million and employment to 402.

Mount Rural 1935, The Snow Collection, The Museum of Old Newbury

Net sales advanced to a peak of $12.9 million in fiscal 1943.

In 1959, the company purchased Bristol Engineering & Manufacturing Co. based in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

Together with stock purchases by Russell McPhail, chairman of Transue & Williams, and his McPhail Candy Corporation, these holdings represented about 30 percent of Starrett's outstanding stock in 1964, with a value of $6.8 million.

In fiscal 1970, Starrett bought Herman Stone Co., a Dayton, Ohio, producer of granite slabs for measuring tables, for $308,000 worth of stock.

As added protection against any future takeover attempts of the company, Starrett adopted a "poison pill" defense in 1990.

These foreign operations accounted for 26 percent of the company's sales in 1994.

1996: Starrett opens its first Chinese subsidiary.

The company had continued to invest in its facilities and equipment, spending some $20 million over 1999.

The new devices turned out to be plagued with problems that made them unreliable, and in March 2001 the company began replacing them at no charge to its customers.

Yet sales were flat for 2002, and the company ended the fiscal year with a net loss of $380,000.