Advertisement from the Centennial 1842 1942 St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Racine, Wisconsin pamphletDennis Tully: These men are posing for a photo of the George Gorton Machine Co. bowling league back in the early 1940’s. The league at the time, had their home lanes at Big Ed’s bowling alleys on State Street. George Gorton, Sr. is in 2nd row up at center.“Business Is Good” at the Gorton Machine Company. Racine Journal-Times, October 28, 1935.
10 thoughts on “George Gorton Machine Company”
HI
I HAVE A GORTON OLD METAL MACHIN I NEED SOME INFORMATION ABOUT IT PLEAS TOOLD ME
REAGARDS TO YOU
I am not sure if I can help but if I can I will need to know the specifications of the parts that you need to get your machine running again. Please, when using capital letters in an email you are actually shouting at the recipient.
lI’m ooking to establish contact with a member of the Gorton family. My name is Robert Earhuff and my Great Grandfather was J. G. Earhuff who had a Piano and Organ Factory in North St. Paul Minnesota up until 1903.
Recently a pump organ collector and restorer that I had made contact with, had a 15 page article published in the quarterly publication of the “Reed Organ Society” about the Earhuff Piano and Organ Company.
I belive there is a family connection between our families based on what I recall from a genealogy chart that was part of a web site, (gorton-machince.org), which is no longer available.
So the reason I would like to establish contact is two fold, first I belive I can get a copy of the publication if there is any interest, and secondly I thought I print a copy of that genealogy chart wich I can not find and would like to obtain a replacement copy if possible.
Am looking to purchase a Gorton vert milling I think its a 9J serial #14575, it appears to be in good working order.any information i can get would be appreciated,(yr of build, value,attachments and or parts availabilty)
Thanx UB
I had the honor of working for Marini Tool & Die during the year 1978. I talked with Albert Sr. about Gorton’s and the founding of Marini’s company. He told me that when he decided make it public, that he was leaving to form his own company, George Gorton wished him well, and said he would see if he could throw Albert any work his way. That is the this very fine gentlemen described it.
My dad worked for George Gorton from the time he got home from WWII to 1974 when the company was sold. George Gorton was a very fair, kind and wonderful employer. I have a signed copy of his book “A Big-ass Boy in the Oil Fields”. Thank you, Mr. Gorton.
Today is March 18, 2026. I was looking at an FB post with a picture of the Gorton Machine bowling team, and I remembered that book about his time in the El Dorado oilfields. A lot of interesting Wild West characters.
If you still have that, you should get it in the hands of the museum or library and see if they can scan and post it online. There were some great stories in there.
![“Business Is Good” at the Gorton Machine Company
Racine Journal-Times, October 28, 1935.
NEW PRODUCTS DEVELOPED TO HELP BANISH DEPRESSION
Plant at 1107 13th Street Going at Top Speed.
“Business is good” at the Gorton Machine company.
Employees interviewed by the Journal-Times for another of its articles about Racine industrial workers and their products agreed on that point, and further, that the state of the machine tool business has always been a reliable indicator of the condition of general business. It was pointed out that mounting orders to such firms as the Gorton company, which makes machines for a wide range of industries, means that capital goods buying—called “the key to the end of the slump”—are moving rapidly now.
Another thing learned from workers in the Gorton plant was that many new products were developed during the depth of the depression and are now creating jobs. An executive corroborated this. “I believe it’s safe to say that 25 per cent of the machines we’re doing now is in lines developed in the last five or six years,” he said.
Going “Full Blast.”
Approximately 15 are now employed by the Gorton company at the plant at 1107 Thirteenth street, which is going at top speed. In 1932—low point of the depression for the tool machine trade—about 15 were on the payroll.
The Racine firm makes machines for cutting many kinds of dies and molds used in the manufacture of products that range from huge truck tires down to flashlights. Its machines go to almost every country in the world. Right now it is completing a large order for Russia, and has another one from Italy which it may fill because of possible barriers against trade between the two nations because of the war situation.
A few years ago the Gorton company, by way of demonstrating the precision and accuracy of its machines, engraved the Lord’s prayer on the head of a pin 1/21 of an inch in diameter, in letters so fine (thousandths of an inch high, less than the thickness of a human hair). Adolph Horner, 1312 Arthur avenue, who is in charge of the engraving department, did that job on a machine employing the pantograph principle—that of tracing a machine over the original object and at the same time automatically forming tiny replicas on the other end of the device.
Has Seen Growth.
Horner has been with the Gorton company 21 years and has done about every operation in the plant. About a dozen men were employed when he started, and he has seen the plant grow, the construction of the addition which now fronts on Thirteenth street, and the development of new products. Improved products, too. “We’re pretty busy now, got about 15 men on the machines,” he said. He explained that one of the machines engraves a variety of products from designs on jewelry and aspirin tablets to stationery cards and thousands of similar jobs.
Fred Kobal, 2214 E. Twentieth street, runs a lathe in the Gorton plant. He was working on a cutting machine job when interviewed. He has been with the company since 1915, and has been a machinist since he started to work. “George Gorton, 80, is the founder of this company and its present chief. He is an inventive genius, and the fact that he exercised his creative ability to develop new products during the slump period has helped us a mighty lot in a hurry now,” he pointed out.
Oscar Triebel, 2515 Sixth avenue, Racine, has been with the company since 1927. Up to a year ago he worked as a machinist, but was then made foreman of the shipping department and is still in charge of shipping all finished products and receiving all raw materials.
As an indication of how the volume of shipping has grown, he said that in 1932 there were only two men in his department; now there are six. “Our volume began picking up in 1933, and we’re going full blast now,” he told the reporter.
A veteran of 17 years’ service with the company, William Burant, 1425 Morton avenue, operates a grinder, turning out spindles, gears, shafts, bushings, etc. He is an all-around machinist who has operated lathes, milling machines, etc.
Better Equipment.
“Of course we do better work than we did 17 years ago. We have better equipment. In the last few years for example, the company has installed a half-dozen grinders that are a vast improvement over the old machines that were here when I started.”
Andy Jensen, Racine, learned his trade in Denmark. He is now employed as an assembler and machinist, working on vertical milling machines. “I have been with the company since 1927, and that year Jensen helped to build the first vertical milling machine produced by the company. We build four different types of mills now in several sizes,” he said. “When I started it was just one type. Now there are four.”
When asked for comments on machines made here and in his native country, he said he believed the American product is superior because of better manufacturing equipment.
Victor Horner, 1632 Orange street, who also is an assembler, has been with the company and has done many different operations in the plant. He started here in 1911 and found the work interesting. New products are constantly being developed. It is different work than in a mass production shop. “This is particular work that requires extreme accuracy,” he said.
Asked if he would choose the machinist trade to do all over again, he answered in the affirmative.
A 26-Year Veteran.
Frank Davis, 1416 Main street, Racine, who operates a lathe now, but has 26 years of service with the company and has done almost all operations in the plant. When interviewed he was working on the die cutting machine.
“For the shop company at Madison, I have seen tool machines develop a lot in a quarter of a century,” he said, “and with an increase in speed has come a parallel increase in accuracy.”
Oscar Mahnke, 1408 Pratt street, another veteran (brother of Allen Mahnke who plays center on the Wisconsin university football team), has been with Gorton’s since 1924, and a machinist since 1914. He was working at that straight-up to reach settings to the specified thousandths. “The remarkable thing to me is that this plant has grown since the depression, while so many others have gone [through] the worst business slump in history. The Gorton plant now is one of the largest in the tool industry and it is very prosperous.”
Photo caption (duplicating machine): A RESULT OF MECHANICAL GENIUS is this duplicating machine being operated by Robert Lunn, 2413 Lindermann avenue, an employe of the Gorton Machine company for the last 10 years. The machine, a comparatively recent development, duplicates dies in any size required. Lunn demonstrates operation of the machine to visiting buyers who were in the Gorton plant, and was one of those at the Cleveland machine tool show a few weeks ago, where the Racine firm sold all of its exhibited machines that hadn’t been sold beforehand.
A veteran of 21 years with the company is Frank Klema, 1515 LaSalle street, operating boring and milling machines. He has operated practically every machine in the shop, he said. “I have watched developments of the tool industry since I started, and believe that the improvement of the last 15 years in tool machines is so great that dies and molds can now play a very important part in the mass production and merchandising of a wide variety of products of American manufacturers,” he declared.
Pride of Workmanship.
Otto Schloes, 1192 Prospect street, another employee who expressed pride in the company’s products. He is a craftsman and referred to the need of precision. When interviewed he was working on a circular table for a milling machine that takes three days to complete. He said that while there is a scarcity of skilled workmen in the tool machine trade, the Gorton company is particular.
Emil Falkenhuth, 1418 Frank street, who is a machinist in training to do assembly work, has been with the company about eight years, tracing that some 30 new products have been added and employment more than doubled, he commented.
Ernest Falkenhuth, 1418 Frank street, is the oldest employee in point of service in the shop. He began as a Gorton employee in 1904 and did all kinds of machine work for the long line of products developed during that period. Now he is still a machinist.
“Tool machines have improved wonderfully, and as a result manufacturers now demand the very finest of dies and molds, and do their engraving. The Racine company enjoys a good reputation in the industry, indicated that we are able to meet their demands.”
The Gorton company was founded in 1893 by George Gorton, Sr., who is still its active head. Three sons—George Jr., James and Robert—are associated with him.
Photo caption (grinder): GRINDING WITH ACCURACY—Harold Nelson, Route 1, Racine, is shown at this big surface grinder in the Gorton shop. He is grinding hardened steel bars for special ball races, and he commented on the accuracy necessary of the delicate work to be performed by the machine he is helping to make. Nelson has been with the company only about four months, but he has been grinding for nine years.](https://www.vindustries.com/racinehistory/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/The_Journal_Times_1935_10_28_18-business-is-good-at-the-gorton-scaled.jpg)
HI
I HAVE A GORTON OLD METAL MACHIN I NEED SOME INFORMATION ABOUT IT PLEAS TOOLD ME
REAGARDS TO YOU
Gorton was bought by Kearney & Trecker in 1974. K&T was bought by Giddings &Lewis in 1990. Try G&L for your parts.
Regards to you too.
I am not sure if I can help but if I can I will need to know the specifications of the parts that you need to get your machine running again. Please, when using capital letters in an email you are actually shouting at the recipient.
Regards
George M Gorton
lI’m ooking to establish contact with a member of the Gorton family. My name is Robert Earhuff and my Great Grandfather was J. G. Earhuff who had a Piano and Organ Factory in North St. Paul Minnesota up until 1903.
Recently a pump organ collector and restorer that I had made contact with, had a 15 page article published in the quarterly publication of the “Reed Organ Society” about the Earhuff Piano and Organ Company.
I belive there is a family connection between our families based on what I recall from a genealogy chart that was part of a web site, (gorton-machince.org), which is no longer available.
So the reason I would like to establish contact is two fold, first I belive I can get a copy of the publication if there is any interest, and secondly I thought I print a copy of that genealogy chart wich I can not find and would like to obtain a replacement copy if possible.
Looking forward to hearing back.
Rob Earhuff
Shoreview Mn.
Here are archived versions of the gorton-machine.org website: https://web.archive.org/web/20260000000000*/gorton-machine.org
Am looking to purchase a Gorton vert milling I think its a 9J serial #14575, it appears to be in good working order.any information i can get would be appreciated,(yr of build, value,attachments and or parts availabilty)
Thanx UB
I had the honor of working for Marini Tool & Die during the year 1978. I talked with Albert Sr. about Gorton’s and the founding of Marini’s company. He told me that when he decided make it public, that he was leaving to form his own company, George Gorton wished him well, and said he would see if he could throw Albert any work his way. That is the this very fine gentlemen described it.
My dad worked for George Gorton from the time he got home from WWII to 1974 when the company was sold. George Gorton was a very fair, kind and wonderful employer. I have a signed copy of his book “A Big-ass Boy in the Oil Fields”. Thank you, Mr. Gorton.
Today is March 18, 2026. I was looking at an FB post with a picture of the Gorton Machine bowling team, and I remembered that book about his time in the El Dorado oilfields. A lot of interesting Wild West characters.
If you still have that, you should get it in the hands of the museum or library and see if they can scan and post it online. There were some great stories in there.
How do I replace a belt on the Gorton 1-22 mastermill milling machine variable speed?