Wright Industries history

By 1956, Curtiss-Wright had 16 divisions, and the company's stock had risen to a high of 49 3/8.

By 1957, about two-thirds of Curtiss-Wright's sales were from government contracts and about two-thirds of its profits stemmed from nonmilitary sales.

In 1958, Curtiss-Wright began operating a nuclear research reactor at its Quehanna facility.

In 1959, Curtiss-Wright also began producing industrial x-ray inspection equipment, which was added to the firm's lines of quality control equipment, inspection equipment, and measurement systems using ultrasonic, radiographic, and nuclear energy technologies.

In April 1960 Hurley was confronted by a hostile crowd at the firm's annual meeting and faced criticism over falling earnings, reduced dividends, high officer compensation, and insufficient information regarding the company's experimental developments.

With the acquisition of Target Rock Corporation in 1961, the Company laid the foundation of what is now our industrial valves business.

In 1962, the company received a Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) contract to study compressor, turbine, and computer technologies for supersonic transport jet engines and began competing for a major government contract to develop and produce a supersonic commercial airliner engine.

Curtiss-Wright lost its bid to produce the supersonic engine, and, by 1967, the company had abandoned Berner's goal to build complete aircraft engines, opting to become a first-tier supplier, or subcontractor, for other companies involved in aerospace and other fields.

The Company's Surface Technologies division began with an acquisition made in 1968 that took the corporation into the industrial service field.

In 1969, Curtiss-Wright acquired a majority interest in Dorr-Oliver Inc., an engineering firm that made mechanized equipment for airline cargo terminals; Curtiss-Wright eventually acquired complete control of Dorr-Oliver.

In 1970, General Motors Corporation (GM) paid $50 million to acquire a five-year nonexclusive license to develop and manufacture the rotary combustion engine in North America.

By 1972, Wankel had become one of the hottest names on Wall Street, and Curtiss-Wright's stock was one of the most volatile and actively traded.

By July 1975, Curtiss-Wright had acquired 16 percent of Cenco's stock.

During this time, Teledyne Inc., a diversified firm with interests in electronic and aviation control systems and insurance, began acquiring Curtiss-Wright stock, and, by mid-1976, it held a 12 percent stake.

In 1978, Berner launched a proxy challenge to gain control of Kennecott Corporation, the nation's largest copper company.

Through its Target Rock subsidiary, a supplier of valves for nuclear applications in the United States Navy and the commercial nuclear power industry, Curtiss-Wright entered the commercial fossil power market in 1980 for similar critical steam valve applications.

1981: Truce between CWC and Kennecott leaves Teledyne with 50 percent control of CWC.

In 1990, the company's revenues climbed to $214 million while earnings sank to $6.8 million, in large part due to a $13.8 million after-tax environmental charge related to soil and ground water contamination at the company's former Wood-Ridge facility.

1993 Residential division Wright Tree Care was formed

Curtiss-Wright entered 1994 seeking expanded commercial markets in the area of pollution control, for which its electronic control valves were well suited.

A European subsidiary, Curtiss-Wright Flight Systems/Europe, opened in 1995.

Another sign of our diversification efforts was the 1998 acquisition of Curtiss-Wright Drive Technology.

Annual sales, at $293 million, were up 18 percent in 1999.

David Lasky retired in April 2000 and was succeeded by Martin R. Benante as CEO and chairman.

2006 Heard Gardens was acquired

2007 Wright Tree Care merged with Heard Gardens to form Wright Outdoor Solutions, and CNUC was acquired

2008 Terra Spectrum Technologies was founded, and Wright Tree Service of the West formed

2012 Sustainable Environmental Consultants joined the family of companies as joint venture with Wright Tree Service

2013 Sustainable Environmental Consultants transitioned into a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wright Service Corp., and Wright Outdoor Solutions purchased The Growing Concern, adding indoor services to their full-service outdoor business

2017 A partnership with Spectrum Resource Group was formed, expanding the Wright Service Corp. footprint to Canada

2020 Wright Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation launched as a separate nonprofit organization outside of the family of companies focused on fostering innovative solutions in renewable agriculture and vegetation management

2021 Transcon Environmental was acquired, adding to our family of companies