This agricultural equipment maker originally operated under the name C. H. Turner, going back to 1916, if not earlier. In 1926 C. H. Turner Manufacturing Co. was created by the consolidation of the C. H. Turner machinery operations with C. H. Turner Foundry Co. By the 1930s, the initials had been dropped and the company went by Turner Manufacturing Co. In 1960 they were no longer manufacturing woodworking machinery. That year, the business was acquired by Fletcher Works of Philadelphia and became the Turner Division of Fletcher Industries, Inc.

Information Sources

• The book Iredell, Piedmont County, by Homer M. Keever, 1976, has the following snippet.

  In 1916 C. H. Turner bought the old Mott flour mill south of the railroad for a warehouse and soon after World War I moved his whole operation to the factory and a foundry he built on Meeting Street. In 1948 a new assembly plant was built on the railroad just west of Wayside School, and in 1958 the plant in Statesville was sold. ...

• A 1925 edition of The Railroad Yardmaster has an advertisement for "C. H. TURNER MANUFACTURER OF Turner's New Pony Saw Mill New and Re-Built Machinery LONG DISTANCE PHONE 74 STATESVILLE NORTH CAROLINA".
• A 1926 edition of Manufacturers' Record has the following snippet.

  C. H. Turner Manufacturing Co. formed by consolidation of the C. H. Turner Foundry Co. and C. H. Turner of Statesville. with plant located on Salisbury-Asheville Div. of the Southern Ry. near Railway Station.

• Listed in Wendel's The Circular Sawmill.
• A January 1927 edition of Printers' Ink mentions "The C. H. Turner Manufacturing Company, Statesville, N. C, tractors, saw mills and agricultural equipment".
• A 1929 edition of Excavating Engineer lists "C. H. Turner Manufacturing Co., saw mill equipment and cordwood saws, Statesville, North Carolina".
• An article on tractor-mounted saws from Harry Ferguson, Inc., states that in 1940, "Ferguson was already handling another cordwood saw made by the Turner Manufacturing Company, Statesville, North Carolina."
• 1947 service guide for "Turner's pony saw mill."
• The Library of Congress' Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1948 lists

  TURNER MANUFACTURING COMPANY ©.
  Turner's gang edger. Service guide
  and parts catalog. Statesville,
  N. C. [19i+7] 25 p., illus.
  © 30Dec47"

• The UK government National Archives has a listing for "FOLDER of leaflets and price lists for woodworking machinery, bean shellers, balers, peanut equipment and cultivators. [late 1940's]. Turner Manufacturing Co., Statesville, North Carolina, U.S.A."
• A 1950 edition of American Lumberman has an ad from Turner Manufacturing Co., Statesville, N. C., for woodworking equipment including portable sawmills, gang edgers, and planer-matcher.
• An article on M4 bayonets includes the following tidbit: "The first contract was to the Turner Manufacturing Company of Statesville, North Carolina for 298,691 bayonets in 1954."
• From a 1960 edition of Machinery comes the following news item.

  Fletcher Works, Philadelphia, has purchased Turner Manufacturing Co., Statesville, NC, manufacturers of farm implements and valves. Company will operate as Turner Division of Fletcher Industries Inc. and will produce narrow fabric looms and yarn...