OUR HISTORY

Times were different then, so were we.

Our lineage at AC Henry dates back to the mid 1870s when the nation was consumed in "Railroad Fever."  Rolling stock traveling over the thousands of miles of newly constructed railroad track was in high demand, our roots began as the "Huntingdon Car Works" by filling the need of an ever growing, never sleeping, network of railroads.  Quality wooden boxcars riding on "Arch Bar Trucks" as well as other specialized cars such as the Diamond Valley Railroad's only Parlor Car rolled out of our shop complex.  Yet it wasn't until 1886 that the Robert's Brothers of Philadelphia purchased the car works and began exploring other uses of the shops.  The shop complex sold off in 1899 to the Keystone Boiler Works of Irwin, PA.  Stated in Railway World a trade magazine, the company would employe around 250 locals and begin the manufacturing of boilers and radiators, as well as operate new Annealing Ovens.  Taking the next step into the world of advanced manufacturing even as early as 1899. The shop complex sold again in 1906  to C.F. Dickinson of the Pittsburgh Industrial Iron Works for a price of $60,000, as stated in the Iron Trade Review another trade magazine.

From there at the turn of the century till the 1970s the facility manufactured several different products under several names; but when an Allentown based manufacturing shop, Bonney Forge, decided to build a new facility in Huntingdon County replacing the old site a man by the name of Carl Henry Baxter purchased the buildings and started his own machine shop preserving a site that would continue in town and area employment.  This company operated under Carl Baxter from it's creation in 1976 till 2008 when Carl decided to retire, after which his company was sold into new ownership.  In 2016, it was announced that the company was relocating from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania to a site near Lancaster.  Huntingdon having dealt with several blows to the manufacturing industry, was about to loose another job source.  Not wishing to see the jobs leave locally, Carl came out of retirement and formed AC Henry Co (A Carl Henry Company).

Today AC Henry has stepped into the world of advanced manufacturing, not only are we still capable of producing the standard machine shop "one-off" orders, but we are entering the realm of 3D laser metal printing, advanced CNC machining, metrology and reverse engineering, as well as production precision machining.  We aim to be the best and most advanced precision machining facility in the Central Pennsylvania region and we hope that our lineage will continue in providing the best quality product we can make.

"Huntingdon is the heart of central Pennsylvania's Juniata Valley of precision with 250 years and 20 generations of skillful manufacturing for hundreds of major products. Fine yarns, spiral bound tablets, steam locomotive components, bank deposit books, high grade steam engines, foundry castings, rail box cars, farm implements, highway marking systems, critical national defense components, fiberglass, high pressure pipe fittings, electronic connectors are some of products made in Juniata's Precision Valley."  

Carl Baxter--AC Henry President

  Lane Foundry

& Machine Works

Local business occupying some of our facilities space circa 1890.