In 1907 Frank B. Yingling established Ceramic Machinery Co., and three years later established Columbia Machine Tool Co. to make "lathes and other machine tools". The companies were located in the same building on Fair Grove Avenue in Hamilton. Within a decade the Columbia company had developed a successful line of metal shapers. The company was formally incorporated in December 1916. In 1928 they acquired Midwest Locomotive Works of Cincinnati and moved those operations to Hamilton.

From August 1922 Machinery

By the early 1930s F. E. Goldsmith was company president; he was also treasurer of another Hamilton machine tool maker, punch and shear specialist Long & Allstatter Co.; Frank Yingling was president of Long & Allstatter and we believe he was still involved in Columbia Machine Tool as well.

At some point during the 1930s or early '40s the Long & Allstatter Company was absorbed into Columbia.

In February 1942 Columbia was reorganized as Columbia Machinery & Engineering Corp., with a new slate of executives; the product lineup was changed to "shears, press brakes, and metal forming and hydraulic presses. In December 1953 they merged with the Lodge & Shipley Machine Tool Co., becoming the Columbia Division of Lodge & Shipley . Within a few years it was the Hamilton Division of Lodge & Shipley. In 1956 the company announced that the Hamilton operations were being relocated to Cincinnati, and then in 1959 the building was torn down to make way for a municipal parking lot.

Information Sources

• October 1917 Condensed Catalogues of Mechanical Equipmentlists Columbia Machine Tool Co., Fairgrove Ave., Hamilton, O., as providers of machine work, shapers, and special machinery.
• 1918-07-18 The Iron Age.

  The Columbia Machine Tool Co., Hamilton, Ohio, has acquired the property formerly owned by the Ceramic Machine Co. It rented the plant from the Ceramic company.

• The 1922 lists Columbia Machine Tool Co., Hamilton, O., as providers of shapers (metalworking).
• August 1922 Machinery lists Columbia Machine Tool Co., of Hamilton, O., as makers of shapers. The issue also contains an ad for Columbia Shapers.
• 1928-04-20 Hamilton Daily News.

  Columbia Machine Tool Co. Buys Out Plant in Cincinnati; Will Move Machinery

  Announcement was made today that the Columbia Machine Tool Company, whose plant is on the Middletown Pike, had acquired the business of the Midwest Locomotive Works of Cincinnati and that the manufacture of the engines would be carried on at the Hamilton plant. The Midwest has been manufacturing locomotives for shops and industries for years, being one of the best known in the country. The engines are from about four to 20 tons capacity.

  F. B. Yingling, vice-president and treasurer of Columbia, said today that the equipment of Midwest would be removed to the local plant as soon as possible, within 30 to 60 days, and that production would be started at that time.

  The lines works in very nicely with that which Columbia now produces and there will be no extensive increase in the number of employees.

  F. F. Goldsmith is president of Columbia, and Eugene Rich is secretary.

• An Index to Butler County Place Names, compiled by Jim Blount and maintained by the Lane Libraries of Hamilton.

  Columbia Machine Tool Co., had been incorporated in December 1916, and was located on Fairgrove Avenue (Ohio 4, Hamilton-Middletown Road) opposite the Butler County Fairgrounds.

  The 1933-34 directory listed five companies at 1900 Fairgrove Avenue: Columbia Machine Tool Co., F. E. Goldsmith, president; Ceramic Machinery Co., incorporated Nov. 22, 1907, also with Goldsmith as president; Columbia Mixers Corp.; Midwest Locomotive Works; and Sterling Machine Co. In the same directory, F. E. Goldsmith was listed as the treasurer of the Long & Allstatter Co. Other officers were Frank B. Yingling, president; D. Paul Long, vice president; and Louis A. Pfau, secretary. The 1939 city directory listed four companies at 400 High Street: Columbia Machine Tool Co.; Columbia Mixers Corp.; Ceramic Machinery Co.; and Midwest Locomotive Works. Columbia Machine Tool Co., (organized in 1910) Frank B. Yingling, president, was described as "machinery manufacturers." By 1944, it was the Columbia Machinery & Engineering Corp., incorporated Feb. 6, 1942, with new officers, whose business was "designers and builders of standard and special machinery." In 1947, it was described as "designers and builders of special machinery, shears, press brakes, hydraulic presses." Dec. 21, 1953, Columbia merged with the Lodge & Shipley Co. of Cincinnati. The Dec. 22, 1953, Journal-News said "Columbia makes power squaring shears, power press brakes and metal forming and hydraulic presses. The newly formed company plans to expand into the rapidly growing non-metal working industries." The 1954 directory listed the operation as the Columbia Division of the Lodge & Shipley Co. Of Cincinnati. Later, it was known as the Hamilton Division, "designers and builders of special machinery, shears, brakes and hydraulic presses." The company announced plans to move its Hamilton operations to Cincinnati in 1956. Friday, Feb. 13, 1959, the Journal-News reported "heavy demolition work was started at the Lodge & Shipley plant." The report said "the front section of the property, extending along High Street between Fourth and Fifth streets is to be cleared for a 256-space off-street city parking lot." The city had paid $200,000 for the tract. "The northern section of the property, extending along Butler Street, was purchased by the Champion Paper & Fibre Co. And is being used for industrial purposes." In 1960, 400 High Street was listed as vacant. The entire site eventually became a municipal parking lot.

• The 2015 book, Hamilton's Industrial Heritage, by Richard N. Piland, provided key facts about this firm. A picture caption reads as follows.

  The first factory location of Columbia Machine Tool Company was on Fair Grove Avenue, opposite the Butler County Fairgrounds. The firm had been organized by Frank Yingling in 1910 to manufacture lathes and other machine tools. Yingling also operated the Ceramic Machinery Company, incorporated in 1907, at the same location. In 1937, the company sold its Fair Grove Avenue plat to the West States Machine Company.

  Another picture caption reads as follows.

  In 1917, Western States Machine Company began making centrifuge equipment in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the sugar industry. The firm entered an agreement in 1924 whereby the Columbia Machine Tool Company of Hamilton manufactured some of its centrifuge equipment. In 1936, Western States bought the machine tool company's building and moved some of its operations to Hamilton. The firm built a new manufacturing facility and office in Fairfield in 2012.

• Directory of Metalworking Machinery, 1951, pg. 13