YODER CO.

The YODER CO. was the largest manufacturer of electric welded tube and pipe mills and roll-forming mills for the agricultural, automotive, petroleum, appliance, electrical, and aerospace industries. Founders Carl M. and Henry Yoder were draftsmen for the Swartwout Mfg. Co. in the early 1900s, when Carl devised a way to mold scrap sheet steel. The Yoders then started their own business to produce these metalworking machines in the basement of Carl's west side home in 1908. Two years later, it was incorporated as the Yoder Co. In 1913 Yoder went into full production near E. 55th St. and Euclid Ave. During World War I, it moved to a plant on Walworth Ave. The firm became widely known for its tube and pipe mills, and a growing export business commenced. Exports decreased after World War II, but the company started to regain its foreign business by granting licenses to foreign manufacturers to produce Yoder's machines and by establishing a French subsidiary in 1950. Under Douglas Yoder, the business prospered in the 1950s, employing over 1,000 and reaching $13 million in sales by 1957. Expanding sales led in 1958 to the construction of a 2nd plant in WESTLAKE, which was operated until 1980. By this time the company was experiencing financial difficulties, and in 1981 it filed for bankruptcy. Intercole, Inc., of California acquired Yoder and then merged its Cleveland-based Stewart Bolling & Co., Inc. with Yoder to form the Intercole Bolling Corp., with operations at Yoder's Walworth Ave. plant. In 1985 Intercole Bolling was sold to the Northern Group Investment Co. The Yoder Div. was sold in May 1986 to SNS Properties, Inc., which moved Yoder into the old Peninsula Steel plant at 26800 Richmond Rd., where it operated with 110 workers in 1993.