The Austin-Western division of the Clark Equipment Company ceased business operations in 1981. Some parts and information for Clark Austin-Western cranes can be found by contacting Minnpar, LLC (U.S.) at (612) 379-0606 or at http://www.minnpar.com/.
Austin-Western Co. was a manufacturer of heavy industrial equipment.
In 1901, F.C. Austin Manufacturing Company and Western Wheeled Scraper Company, which until then had been fierce competitors, formed a corporation called Austin-Western Road Machinery Company. Its offices were in Chicago, Illinois.
Western Wheeled Scraper purchased F.C. Austin Manufacturing Company in 1902, renaming it Austin Manufacturing Company, and the three companies operated until 1934. Austin and Western products were manufactured and sold under those names, although the Austin-Western name also appeared on machinery, especially in the early 1930s.
In 1934, the two manufacturing companies were consolidated under the name Western-Austin Company, with Austin-Western as a wholly-owned subsidiary. The Austin-Western name was in standard use on the equipment after the merger, although the Western-Austin name also occasionally appeared in conjunction with Austin-Western. Also in 1934, the Austin-Western Road Machinery Company moved from Chicago to Aurora, Illinois, and manufacturing operations were consolidated in Aurora in 1939.
On January 1, 1944, all operations were consolidated under the Austin-Western Company name, the Austin-Western Road Machinery Company was dissolved, and the Western-Austin name was dropped.
Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation (Collection 135) acquired Austin-Western as a subsidiary on March 8, 1951. In July of 1965, Armour and Company of Chicago, Illinois, purchased Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation of Philadelphia. In December of 1970, the Greyhound Corporation purchased all of Armour and Company and its subsidiaries.
In May of 1971 the Clark Equipment Company (Collection 252) purchased only the Construction Equipment Division from Greyhound. This consisted of the Austin-Western Division of Aurora, Illinois; the Lima Division of Lima, Ohio; and the Division of BLH Canada located at St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.
Clark went on to phase out the Austin-Western name in the mid-1970s, consolidating the line into its Crane Division. It also moved production of graders--the last survivor of the line--to the former Hancock Manufacturing Company plant in Lubbock, Texas in 1978. The Lubbock plant was closed and the grader line discontinued in 1981.
1859 - Austin Manufacturing Co. (Harvey, IL)
1877 - Western Wheeled Scraper Company (Mount Pleasant, IA)
1901 - Austin-Western Road Machinery Company (Chicago, IL)
formed to sell the products of both companies.
1903 - Western Wheeled Scraper Company purchased the Austin
Manufacturing Company.
1934 - Western-Austin company (The two companies were
consolidated at Aurora, IL).
1944 - Austin-Western Company.
1951 - Austin Western Division of BLH.
1965 - Subsidiary of Armour and Company.
1970 - Greyhound Corporation.
1971 - Clark Equipment Company (Austin-Western Division.