Packard Electric Motors, Ohio
You may have heard of Packard cars, which were the elite American cars during their era- surpassing the reputation of Cadillac, Lasalle, Lincoln, and Chrysler. You may not have known that the Packard name was used up until the year 2017, and was a reputable electrical company established before the car manufacturing.
In 1890, William Doud Packard and his brother James Ward Packard established the Packard Electric company, which produced electric light bulbs. They were involved in a number of businesses in Warren, Ohio including lumber mills, hardware stores, hotels, and an iron mill. They seemed to have a pulse on the next wave of industry, so why not start a car company? In 1899, they started the Ohio Automobile Company, then renamed it the Packard Motor Car Company in 1902. They relocated to Detroit in 1903, which appeared to be the hub of the new automobile industry.
With the car production proving successful, they sold shares to Henry B. Joy and other investors who then took control of Packard Motor Car Company. The Packard brothers kept control of their electrical company, which had begun manufacturing cable for the automotive industry. In 1932, General Motors bought Packard Electric, and developed supplier relationships with several companies including Sears, Roebuck & Co. Packard supplied motors for the Sears Craftsman line of drills, saws, grinders, the Kenmore name of appliances, and the Homart name in fans. They were bullet proof with stories of their fans running continuously, non-stop for 20 years and more! I just sold a Homart fan within 3 hours that had a 1/12 horsepower Packard Motor! You'll see the motor with the classic Packard logo alongside the GM logo.
In it's heyday, Packard Electric became the world's leading manufacturer of automotive, appliance, and aircraft wiring systems and employed 6,500 workers.
In 1999, Packard Electric of Warren, Ohio was spun off to General Motor's Delphi Packard Electric Systems, then filed for bankruptcy and moved the majority of production to Mexico. Delphi has been resold to a holding company named APTIV in 2017 and the Packard name is no longer in use.