The Johnson City Foundry and Machine Works was founded in 1883 in Johnson City, Tennessee, incorporating on
April 10th of the following year. The original plant consisted of a machine shop, foundry, and blacksmith
shop which were built to make locomotive repairs for the Clinchfield Railroad Company.
In an ad from 1890, the company bills itself as being "fitted with late IMPROVED MACHINERY, and prepared
to furnish Mill Gearing of every description, Circular Saw Mills, and all Kinds of Castings: Saw Mills,
Mill Carriages, Fronts and Grates, Car Wheels, Hillside Plows, Railroad Castings, Plow Castings, Brass
Castings, Cane Mills, Door Sills, Window Sills, Sash Weights, Colums, Street and Ventilating Grates, and
Builders Castings Generally. ALL WORK GUARANTEED. Also make Gearing, Pulleys, Chilled and Soft Castings of
all Kinds. Belts of all Kinds made to Order. We also repair and build LOCOMOTIVES AND ENGINES of all kinds,
and accurately indicate their condition, and do a general Foundry and Machine Shop business, and carry a
full stock of pipe fittings.
The company's motto was: "If it's Made of Iron or Steel, Brass or Aluminum, Draw a Picture of It - We'll
Build It". Some of the company's other products include structural steel for buildings, ornamental iron
work, stairways, pipe rail, fire escapes, boilers, bridges, mining equipment. The company's only branded
products were the Johnson City Veneer Slicer and Knife Grinder; all other products were "tailormade to
suit the customers need". At some point the company built fire hydrants of other companies' designs,
which are shown on this page.
A Johnson City Foundry & Machine advertisement from the 1930s appeared in the Municipal Register.