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Company
Chronicles
Stevens Aerospace & Defense
by Lance Phillips
Remington Ammunition was founded in 1816, Brooks Brothers in 1818, and Macy’s in 1843. These are some of the
oldest companies still in operation in the United States today. The found- ing roots of Stevens Aerospace & Defense Systems go all the way back to 1813, three years prior to Reming- ton’s existence. The Wright brothers didn’t fly until 1903, so as you can imagine, there’s quite a bit more to Stevens’ history than is widely known in the aviation world.
According to the J.P. Stevens & Co. register, the company began in Massa- chusetts as Nathaniel Stevens in 1813, later changing to Nathaniel Stevens & Son in 1850 when Captain Nathaniel Stevens’ son Moses T. Stevens became a partner. The company changed its name to M.T. Stevens & Sons in 1885. At the time, John P. Stevens, Moses’ nephew, was a selling agent
for M.T. Stevens & Sons, and in 1923 his company, J.P. Stevens & Co. was incorporated. In 1946, J.P. Stevens & Co. Inc. and M.T. Stevens & Sons Co. merged and kept the J.P. Stevens & Co. Inc. name. By then, J.P. Stevens was an east coast textiles powerhouse with plants up and down the east- ern seaboard. The company went
public that year. By 1950, they needed a flight department and the subsid- iary, Stevens Aviation, was formed.
In 1975, J.P. Stevens and Co., Inc. had 82 textile plants in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vir- ginia. The main offices remained in
20 • TWIN & TURBINE / September 2022
PHOTOS COURTESY OF STEVENS AEROSPACE