HISTORY:

The company has a long history in the cold drawn steel bar business with over 70 years producing cold drawn steel bars for service centers, screw machine shops and OEM’s located coast to coast throughout the United States.

The past -- FORT  HOWARD  STEEL:

In 1936, Frank and Paul Van Laanen, brothers and owners of Green Bay Drop Forge, were on a fishing trip when they struck up a conversation on fishing equipment with a stranger.  He just happened to be Mr. Lowenstein, owner of Central Steel & Wire - Chicago, Illinois, who remarked how all steel companies were so busy and that Central Steel & Wire was looking for a new supplier. 

The result was Fort Howard Steel & Wire, a division of Research Parts & Engineering Corporation, which began operations in 1936 producing cold drawn steel bars, located at 200 Ninth Street, Green Bay, Wisconsin. 

In 1990, a new modern plant was built at 1240 Contract Drive in Green Bay with all equipment from Ninth Street relocated to the new 63,000 square feet facility, plus a new line was added giving the company a total of seven lines with a combined capacity of 50,000 tons.

In April 1996, the founders’ relatives, Jeff Mitchell, Paul Van Laanen and Jim Growt became the new owners, growing and developing a very successful company.  In  2005 the Oak Creek plant was sold to Nucor, and the Green Bay plant was sold to an investment group comprised of Ronald Anderson, (owner of Wilcox Forging), the management team, steel industry experts and local investors.

Today -- WILCOX STEEL:

In September of 2005, the previous Fort Howard Steel operation in Green Bay was purchased by a group of investors, including the owner of Wilcox Forging, with a goal to position itself for a new period of growth.  With a name change to Wilcox Steel, an entity was given a chance to be reborn, with the vast majority of the same people, the same equipment, and, - the same location, but with a new vision to become a leading edge diversified manufacturer.

With a seventy-year history of producing cold drawn steel bars, Wilcox Steel aims to continue being a long time producer of cold drawn steel bars to service centers, screw machine shops and OEM’s throughout North America.