This maker of woodworking machinery tooling was established in 1890 in Rockford, Ill as Forest City Bit & Tool Co. The business relocated to Hickory, NC, in 1957, and changed names to Forest City Tool Co. after 1960.
Forest City Tool Co. was purchased by Ex-Cell-O Corp. in 1978. Ex-Cell-O was acquired by Textron Inc. in 1986. Forest City Tool was combined with the Greenlee Tool Division in the Textron organization. Textron sold Forest City Tool in 1992, apparently to Vermont American Corp., owned 50/50 by Emerson Electric Co. and Robert Bosch Corp. Bosch bought Emerson's share in Jan. 2000, and closed Forest City down in April, 2003. It was purchased by co-owners of router-bit maker Whiteside Machine Co., William and Bobbie Whiteside; Forest City Tool reopened that July.
Information Sources
- Thanks to Ray Muno for drawing this maker to our attention.