Wm. E. Hill & Co. / Hammond Machinery

A Kalamazoo-based Manufacturer Adapts to Change

With roots that run deep in the lumber and mining industries, a firm that once began as a small manufacturer of sawmill and shingle mill machinery has endured more than 140 years of changing technology to become a Kalamazoo-based world leader in robotics and automation for industrial fixed abrasive finishing.

William E. Hill

William Ely Hill was born on the last day of January 1835 in Owego, Tioga County, New York. The son of a highly skilled millwright, Hill was building sawmills with his father by the time he was 14 years of age. During the 1850s he worked for the Erie Railroad for a time and later began manufacturing sawmill and coal mining machinery in Pennsylvania. His first major invention, patented in 1870, was a steam-powered device for loading and turning logs on the sawmill carriage. Hill’s device revolutionized the lumber milling industry.

“W.E. Hill & Co., extensive manufacturers of Big Rapids, are thinking of locating in Kalamazoo. The senior member of the firm was here yesterday, looking the ground over and prospecting in that direction. The firm should be encouraged to locate.”

– Kalamazoo Gazette, 3 June 1881

In 1875, Hill packed up his belongings and moved to Michigan where he could put his skills and manufacturing expertise to work during the state’s great lumber boom. After establishing his factory in Big Rapids and operating there for several years, Hill arrived in Kalamazoo in June 1881 and opened his sawmill and shingle mill machinery manufacturing business on the northwest corner of Rose and Eleanor streets.

As a specialized manufacturer of “steam contrivances – patent steam log turners, loaders and dumpers, rotary steam engines, (and) steam drag saws” (Gazette), the business grew rapidly. In December 1883, Hill moved the company two blocks west to the former Dodge Plow Works (Hilton Wilson & Sons / Kalamazoo Spring Works) building on the northeast corner of Park and Eleanor streets. During the years that followed, Hill developed and patented the better part of 20 labor-saving machines for the lumber milling industry.

Kalamazoo Mayor

With his business success firmly established, William Hill pursued a career in local politics. In 1888, Hill was elected to the city council and later served two terms as mayor of Kalamazoo in 1890 and 1892. By that time, the Hills were enjoying their stately new home on West Kalamazoo Avenue while their son, Anthony S. Hill, took over the reins of the family business as general manager. After several years of ill health, William Hill passed away on 18 October 1897 at the age of 62.

After her husband’s death, Sarah Hill retained ownership of Wm. E. Hill & Co. and served as its president for a time, with her son-in-law Dumont A. Shepardson as secretary, and her son Anthony as general manager. Castings were initially made by contract with the Leroy Cahil & Company foundry on North Church Street, but the company soon established its own foundry next to its North Park Street plant. The foundry was replaced in 1906 with a new one on North Pitcher Street next to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway line, north of Paterson Street. The entire operation moved to North Pitcher Street in 1912.

William C. Hammond

By 1917, Shepardson and Hill were still leading the firm when William Custer Hammond (born in 1881 near Milwaukee) joined the company as a general manager. To remain competitive, W.E. Hill & Co. acquired Curtis & Co. Manufacturing, a large sawmill and pneumatic machinery manufacturer in St. Louis, Missouri, and changed the company name to Hill-Curtis. Soon after, W.C. Hammond was promoted to vice president under the new company president Oscar Gumbinsky.

As the lumber industry continued to decline, Hammond saw the need to diversify and began manufacturing machines for the printing and publishing trades. In 1921 the company purchased the Webster & Perks Tool Co., a manufacturer of grinding and polishing machinery in Springfield, Ohio. Hill-Curtis grew to become the largest manufacturer of such machines in the country, offering several lines of abrasive belt grinders, polishing and buffing lathes, deburring machines, tool grinders, etc. William Hammond purchased the company himself in 1926 and soon after changed its name to Hammond Machinery Builders, Inc. The company has remained family owned since that time.

Hammond Machinery Builders, Inc.

William Hammond’s son, Lee C. Hammond, began working for the company in 1926. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1932, Lee Hammond joined the firm as a full-time administrator. In 1941, he became company president.

The original plant on North Pitcher Street was sold in 1928 and a modern new facility was built at 1600 Douglas Avenue next to the Michigan Central Railroad Line near Ravine Road. The company expanded through the coming decades, from a 15,000 square foot plant in 1928 to a 167,000 square foot facility in the 1960s, an 11-fold increase. By that time, the company was manufacturing some 250 different types of machines for the printing and metalwork industries. Robert E. Hammond, a grandson, began working in the plant during the 1960s and joined the company in 1973. Rob Hammond is the current owner and company president.

As Hammond Machinery Builders, Inc. celebrated its 100th anniversary, the name was shortened to Hammond Machinery, Inc. By then, Hammond was manufacturing 200 models of grinding and polishing machines across eight lines, from simple manual types to highly sophisticated automated machines. The company’s plant at 1600 Douglas covered 126,000 square feet with a staff of 90 employees. Hammond remained one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of grinding and polishing equipment until the 1980s.

Changing With the Changing Times

By the late 1980s, however, the company was suffering from a “‘financial hemorrhage’ caused by a flood of imports” (Gazette). The demand for older technology waned as the printing industry moved from stereotyping to electronic equipment. Hammond Machinery ceased manufacturing several of its lines at that time as sales fell from 1,164 machines in 1978 to just over 400 in 1986. A press announcement said the company intended to close its plant on Douglas Avenue and move the remaining operation to a satellite facility in Otsego as a last-ditch effort to save the firm. Company officials blamed the political climate and lack of governmental protection for American manufacturers, while employees saw it as mismanagement and the company’s failure to adapt to the changes in technology.

“We are now left with no choice – either face reality and shrink or close our doors forever. This is the hardest thing we have ever had to do…”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 26 January 1987

Hammond Roto-Finish

But Hammond persevered and the Douglas Avenue plant never closed. In 1988, things began to look up when the company purchased the Kalamazoo-based Roto Finish Company, a leading manufacturer of metal polishing and finishing equipment. Today, the family-owned company is known as Hammond Roto-Finish. Within its 150,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility on Douglas Avenue, the company designs and manufactures high tech cutting and forming tools, buffing and polishing equipment, and specialty machines for the aerospace, automotive, medical, and other industries.

Written by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, October 2024