COMPANY HISTORY:

The company, originally known as the Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company, was founded in Cleveland, Ohio by a visionary businessman named J.W. Murray to supply fenders, hoods, gas tanks and running boards for Americas fast-growing automobile industry. Where other running board manufacturers are barely a footnote in the history books, continuing under the inspired leadership of son-in-law C.W. Hannon, Murray, Inc. distinguished itself early on by staying on the leading edge of trends and opportunities. In 1923, Murray expanded its product line to include Steelcraft Wheel Goods, a line of toy cars for children that soon became an American icon for over fifty years. Buoyed by their success in the toy market, Murray rode out the depression years with the manufacture of foot-propelled toy automobiles and airplanes, steel coaster wagons and its first line of bicycles, the Mercury. (Today, Hallmark Cards, Inc. makes miniature replicas patterned after the classic toys which, along with the antiques, themselves, have become valued collectibles.)

In 1941, the needs of a nation at war took precedence over all else, as Murray lent its manufacturing might to the production of rocket housings and magazines for anti-aircraft guns. Having won the nations admiration for their wartime contributions, Murray marked the wars end by turning its attention to the needs of soldiers returning home, and their growing families. By the mid-fifties, Murray once again took the leadership role supplying the voracious desire of baby boomers for bicycles and toys. To keep up with production demands, Murray relocated from urban Ohio to a new manufacturing facility in rural Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Over the next several decades, the Murray factory grew to be one of the largest in the United States: 42.7 acres under roof. (Today, Murray has grown to over four million square feet of manufacturing space in three final-assembly plants located throughout Tennessee.)

Keeping its fingers on the nations pulse, Murray's expansion anticipated America's rush to the suburbs with the production of lawn mowers in the mid-60s. The next thirty years were ones of unprecedented growth, spurred by the introduction of such breakthrough products as the first BMX bike series to stores nationwide in the mid-70s; the first mass-market lawn tractors equipped with hydrostatic automatic drive in 1994; and the introduction of Rail Frame technology in their WideBody Lawn Tractors in 1997.

Notable Features: Below are some different headbadges that Murray used over the years.