Let’s go back to the year 1887. . . . . . .

It was a decade before the conception of Hobart Electric Manufacturing Company (known today as the Hobart Corporation) when Frank Douglass and Gus Stouder discovered their first carriage sunshade. The carriage sunshades were being made by a local preacher/inventor who sold the young businessmen the rights to manufacture the sunshade under his patent at the rate of six cents each. Appropriately, the men named their new venture The Troy Carriage Sunshade Company. About the turn of the century, the company was incorporated and the name shortened to The Troy Sunshade Company.

The first fifty years of operation saw expansion of the buildings and employees, and of course, the product line. The sunshade line included sun visors, umbrellas and other sun shading items. The company experimented with metal production and that led to manufacturing hub caps and similar goods. As automobiles increased in popularity, The Troy Sunshade Company gained its reputation for making “windshields of character”.

During the First World War, production was expanded to include airplane windshields, machine gun covers and other specialty items. The company introduced chrome furniture during the Great Depression which aided their business. Then, in World War II, Troy Sunshade supplied windshields for army trucks and components for generators and welders. It also rebuilt interior surfaces of worn-out aircraft cylinders.

Troy Sunshade reverted back to its normal operating procedures following the war. The company’s furniture department reached its peak with the introduction of its line of commercial and retail furniture. This part of the company was sold in 1970 to the Gleason Corporation of Milwaukee.

By 1960, Troy Sunshade and Hobart Corporation had enjoyed a half century of friendship and business. This relationship united the two companies in June 1960 when the Troy Sunshade Company became a subsidiary of Hobart. Two years later it was named a division.

The division was sold to Dart and Kraft and moved by the new ownership to Greenville, Ohio in 1982.

Troy Sunshade Company acquired the Strayer Coin Bag Company of New Brighton, Pennsylvania in 1992 as they continued to expand into a wider variety of cloth products.

In recent years, Troy Sunshade Company has become an active partner in advertising specialty associations including, ASI and PPAI where we have received a 5-Star and A+ rating supplier. We have added the Logo-in-Motion Pen to our product line which is printed and assembled in our plant.

Troy Sunshade Company manufactures a large line of cloth products, both standard and custom designed in our 66,000 square foot plant in Greenville Ohio. Our dedication to producing quality American Made products with outstanding customer service has kept our company growing. We listen to our customers, always striving to understand and fulfill their needs.

Over the years, the business has grown and our product offerings have expanded. What remains unchanged after 133 years is our business philosophy, “There Is No Substitute For Quality”.