We are honored to have this opportunity to share with you a little bit of our history , as well as some information about the quality and craftsmanship we build into our products every day .
L . J . Smith ’ s heritage of American craftsmanship reaches far back in time . It all began in 1885 , when a gentleman , by the name of L . J . Smith , began making staircases and the stair parts for each in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . In 1911 , he moved his family to Conotton , Ohio , to continue the stairway business as “ L . J . Smith and Son .” L . J . Smith and his son , along with seven other craftsmen , were very busy keeping up with the demand for their meticulously crafted circular stairways that were going into large homes throughout the south .
Following the death of L . J . Smith , in 1942 , the company continued to thrive under the leadership of his son until , in 1977 , the Smith family sold the business .
The following decade offered tremendous growth opportunities for the company . The rising demand for our circular stairways
and stair parts lead to the construction of a new and much larger manufacturing facility located near Bowerston , Ohio , in 1989 .
The new facility was utilized for the manufacturing of stair parts , while the original structure was renovated to accommodate the custom stair division of L . J . Smith , Inc .
Since 1991 , L . J . Smith has made many strategic acquisitions and currently has 8 locations , four of which are complete manufacturing facilities , throughout the country in order to meet the needs of their valued customers .
Today , L . J . Smith is the largest stair parts manufacturing company in the country . Our continued growth over the past several decades is clearly a result of our leadership role in developing and taking to market new and innovative products & techniques . We have patents or patents pending on nearly two dozen products and processes . Our most recent innovations include : hardware to easily remodel stairways from wood balusters to iron balusters ; half wall
L . J . Smith ’ s Time line of Innovations . . .
1983 1988 1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1996 |
L . J . Smith literature features the “ systems ” concept that makes selecting compatible stair parts easy . |
Pre-primed wood balusters were first offered to the market by L . J . Smith . |
Published a comprehensive and systematic step-by-step stairway installation guide designed to be specific to the user ’ s stair design , unlike others that just contain general information . |
Introduction of a complete line of stairway installation tools and hardware designed specifically for stair installers . |
AccuStair design and takeoff software was made available to provide efficient and accurate stairway information .
This was a big year for us . We introduced our Patented line of Conect-A-Kit Handrail Fittings and completely reengineered our entire stair parts offering for improved stairway installations .
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Introduced Climbing Volutes to create a sweeping and elegant beginning to over the post stairways . |
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