This firm traces its genesis to the machine shop and foundry of George W. Merrill that he established in 1854. By the 1860s the business was operating as George W. Merrill & Co. and as the East Saginaw Foundry and Machine Shop. The product line included steam engines, mill machinery, and salt work machinery, and stoves.

In 1871 the name changed to Merrill, Eastwood & Co., and then in 1876 the company was reorganized again, emerging as Mitts & Merrill. That year the company and introduced a keyseating machine that became the mainstay product of the company. 135 years later, keyseating machines remain the focus of Mitts & Merrill.

In 1992, Mitts & Merrill was acquired by Maschinenfabrik FRÖMAG and relocated from Saginaw to Harvard, IL.

Information Sources

• Brown's Annual Directory of the Saginaw Valley for 1878 lists "Merrill, Eastwood & Co. (Geo. W. M., Widham H. E., Wm. Merrill), foundry and machine shop, w s Water, bet w end Brady."
• From History of Michigan, volume 23, by Charles Moore, 1915:

  The late George W. Merrill, who died at his home in Saginaw, January 11, 1908, was for fifty years one of the leading business men and manufacturers of that city. His home was in Oakland county, from 1828 until 1854, and there he got his first experience in the foundry business as conducted by his father. In 1854 he came to Saginaw, and established the foundry and machine shop now conducted by the firm of Mitts & Merrill. He was one of the discoverers of salt in Michigan, and did as much as any other man in the state to develop that industry. With Steven Kirby, in 1859, he went to Syracuse, New York, to investigate the salt business as a manufacturing possibility, going as a commissioner sent by an association of local business men. Upon his return, Mr. Merrill manufactured the machinery and rigs for the first Michigan salt well. Later he equipped many wells for Saginaw and Bay City companies. George W. Merrill was prominent in public affairs, serving for a long time as alderman and supervisor, and was a member of the first common council of Saginaw. He was a charter member of three Masonic branches, being a member and first secretary of the Birmingham Lodge of Free Masons, as already stated, also of Saginaw Lodge No. 77, A. F. & A. M., and was one of the original members of Saginaw Valley Royal Arch Chapter.

  ...Saginaw was the home of the late William Merrill from the time he was three years of age. He grew up and received his education in this city. He was the first graduate of the East Side high school and the first student graduating from Michigan University in 1871. On reaching his majority he entered the machine shop, which had so long been under the family management and name. The business at that time was carried on under the firm name of Merrill, Eastwood & Company, his father being the senior partner. In 1876 the firm was reorganized, and has continued to the present day as Mitts & Merrill.

• History of Saginaw County, Michigan, by James Cooke Mills, 1918, has the following:

  This old representative concern, which for sixty-three years has been well known in the machinery trade, is one of the substantial industries of Saginaw, and a steady supporter of labor and civic progress. It was founded in 1854 by the late George W. Merrill, a young machinist and moulder, who was born at Gaines, New York, March 4, 1826, and came to Oakland County. Michigan, with his father's family in 1828. The beginning was on a small scale, the foundry being one of the first established in Saginaw Valley; and the original building, at 1009 South Water Street, still stands, occupied for many years by the office of the concern. Mr. Merrill was a very energetic and practical mechanic, a man of strong character, will and determination.

  ...In the eighteen sixties and until 1871, the business was conducted by George W. Merrill & Company, under the trade name of the "East Saginaw Foundry and Machine shop." Associated in the company were George W. Merrill, George C. Merrill, Robert B. McKnight, James S. Cornwell and Andrew W. Merrill. The lines of manufacture had been extended from steam engines, mill gearing and machinery, salt work machinery, salt kettles, stoves and general iron castings, to include brass and composition castings, machinery blacksmithing and forging; and particular attention was given to jobbing and repairing mill, salt block and steamboat machinery. In an announcement of 1867 they said: "Our prices will be uniformly low. and we will spare no pains to please our customers." This has become a motto of the company in its extensive dealings with customers throughout the world.

  It was during the expansion of the business that William Merrill, eldest son of George W. Merrill, who was born at Birmingham, Michigan, January 13, 1851, was admitted to the firm; and through other changes in the organization it was conducted under the name of Merrill, Eastwood & Company. This company continued the business until 1876, when on September 16, the business was sold to Mitts & Merrill, a co-partnership under which title the extensive business has since been conducted.

  Within the last thirty years the lines of manufacture, like nearly all the machinery concerns in Saginaw, have undergone radical changes. From steam engines and mill machinery the business gradually developed the manufacture of a patented "hog." a machine for grinding of all kinds of wood into chips, and which has become a celebrated product sold in every civilized country on the globe.

  This business began in a comparatively small way, in making grinders for cutting up slabs and other refuse of saw mills and wood-working factories. The uses of such machines were gradually increased to include other lines of business, in which a careful study of the economic needs of each particular use was made by Herbert Merrill, and special "hogs'- designed and produced to meet the special requirements of each. This progressive policy has greatly increased the reputation and prestige of the company in making special and dependable machines which effect a considerable saving in operation.

  This feature is appreciated to the extent that manufacturers of dyes which before the world war were imported from Europe, have turned to Mitts & Merrill to produce grinders for their special uses, and today a considerable number of such machines, made only in Saginaw, are being used in the preparation of logwood, chestnut, quebaccio, sumack and other woods in the manufacture of dye stuffs. A grinder has also been perfected for grinding up old rubber, in the form of scrapped automobile tires and refuse in general, preparatory to its use in making various articles in the rubber trade.

  An important development of this company, aside from the lines already mentioned, is the patented keyseater which is recognized as a tool of superior utility, and is everywhere known by the machinery trade. This also started in a small way, but with the introduction of many improvements over the original design, the keyseater has become known in foreign countries as well as in the United States and Canada, and the name of Saginaw is carried to remote places of the world.

• From the history page on the Mitts & Merrill website, the company was established in or before 1894, when they introduced a keyseater machine. In 1992 the company was purchased by Maschinenfabrik FRÖMAG and relocated to Harvard, IL.
• A 1900 edition of the Michigan Alumnus has the following snippet:

  William Merrill, '71, resides in Saginaw, Mich., where he is proprietor of a machine shop and foundry, as member of the firm of Mitts and Merrill. From 1894-98 he was a member of the ^ast Saginaw board of education...