| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Leisure, Real estate |
| Founded | Columbus, Georgia, USA (1885) |
| Headquarters | Columbus, Georgia, USA |
| Key people | Stephen T. Butler, Chairman and CEO William B. Turner, Jr., Vice Chairman and President |
| Website | wcbradleyco.com |
The W. C. Bradley Co. is a privately held company founded in 1885 as a “cotton factoring” business. Today the company includes divisions in textiles, farm implement manufacturing, row crop and livestock production, wholesale supply businesses for industrial and building contractors, and barbecue grill manufacturing.
W. C. Bradley Co. headquarters are located on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia in renovated buildings dating from 1885 that were previously used to store cotton and other goods for the company's businesses. W. C. Bradley Real Estate Division manages the company's extensive property holdings including prime commercial property, industrial property, warehouse space, investment buildings and development properties. The Bradley Farms Division continues to operate in Omaha, Georgia.
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In 1885, W. C. Bradley began working as a clerk for Bussey-Goldsmith, a cotton factoring firm. Within a few years, he and his brother-in-law Samuel A. Carter purchased the cotton factoring business, changing the name to Carter and Bradley. The company soon expanded by adding a wholesale grocery department and began to manufacture a high grade fertilizer for the farmers who grew cotton.
In 1895, Bradley bought his brother-in-law's share of the business, and changed the name of the company to the W. C. Bradley Co. Over the next five years Bradley bought Eagle and Phenix Mills and founded the Columbus Manufacturing Company, two of the largest textile mills in the South. He also built a large cotton warehouse, which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and today houses the corporate and administrative offices of the W. C. Bradley Co., the W. C. Bradley Co. Museum, and the D. A. Turner Memorial Chapel.
In 1917, Bradley purchased five plantations located 45 miles (72 km) south of Columbus, along the Chattahoochee River. Today they form the base of the company's Farm Division with 4,000 acres (16 km²) of row crops including peanuts, soybeans, corn, and wheat, 30,000 acres (120 km²) of timber, and a modern scientific swine-handling facility producing over 10,000 hogs per year for market.
During the early 1920s, Bradley continued to diversify his holdings. He acquired the Hamburger Cotton Mills and renamed them Bradley Manufacturing Company. In 1925, the W. C. Bradley Co. acquired control of the Columbus Iron Works. The Iron Works, dating back to 1849, had manufactured cannons and cannon balls as well as gunboats for the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and in 1872 the world's first commercial ice machines. When Bradley took over ownership, the Iron Works began manufacturing circulating heaters and stoves as well as horse-drawn farm implements.
The textile mills were sold during the 1940s. Upon W. C. Bradley's death on July 26, 1947, his son-in-law D. A. Turner became Chairman of the Board.
In 1949, the Iron Works manufactured its first cast iron barbecue grill. Gas grills were added in the 1960s. In 1973, the Manufacturing Division moved from the Columbus Iron Works to a new modern plant in Bradley Industrial Park. This division became known as W. C. Bradley Enterprises in 1977, and is now known as Char-Broil.
D.A. Turner died on August 11, 1982, and his son, William B. Turner assumed the title of Chairman. William B. Turner had been actively managing the company since he became Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1973.
Char-Broil bought the barbecue grill division of the Thermos Company of Schaumburg, Illinois on January 31, 1987.
On August 4, 1987, William B. Turner stepped down as Chairman and turned the management of the company over to the fourth generation of the founder's family. This new W. C. Bradley Co. executive team included Stephen Turner Butler as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and William B. Turner, Jr. as President and Chief Operating officer.
Lamplight in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, was purchased and added to the W. C. Bradley Co. Home Leisure Group in 1998. Lamplight is a producer of indoor lamps and oil, scented indoor candles, and decorative outdoor natural flame products. These products are marketed under the Lamplight and Tiki brands.
Zebco, headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma was acquired by the W. C. Bradley Co. in 2001. Zebco is a designer and marketer of branded fishing tackle in North America. The brands marketed by this division include Zebco, Rhino, Quantum, Lew’s, Martin, and Cajun Line.
The company moved Char-Broil grill production from Georgia to China in 2006. The Char-Broil division is still headquartered in Columbus.