Wilson Bohannan and His Son Begin Making Padlocks in Brooklyn

In 1860, Wilson Bohannan and his 14-year-old son, Wilson Todd Bohannan, set up a small workshop behind the family home in Brooklyn, New York, and began assembling padlocks. Wilson had previously worked for other manufacturers, including in lockmaking, before establishing the workshop as his own enterprise. We trace the founding of Wilson Bohannan Lock Company to this modest operation. A company catalogue published in 1922 described the workshop as being at the rear of the Bohannan home and identified Wilson Todd Bohannan as his father's 14-year-old assistant. Our company history continues to use 1860 as its founding year, alongside Wilson Bohannan's first padlock patent, granted on 17 April of that year.