Rockwell International | Oshkosh, WI

Ganther built much of the former Rockwell International manufacturing plant located along the Fox River near the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh campus.  Founded by Col. Willard Rockwell, the company was a magor American manufacturing conglomerate in the latter half of the 20th century; involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense, commercial electronics, automotive and truck components, printing presses, valves and meters, and industrial automation.  At its apex in the 1990s, Rockwell was 27th on the Fortune 500 list with over $8 billion in assets and annual sales of $27 billion.  Col. Rockwell made his fortune with the invention, and successful launch, of a new bearing system for truck axles.  He merged his Oshkosh-based operation with the Timken-Detroit Axle Company in 1928.  Through the years that followed, Rockwell divested most of its manufacturing operation and finally dissolved in 2001.  The only remaining parts of the company today are Rockwell Automation and Rockwell Collins.