This year marks the 60th anniversary of Peterson Mfg of Grandview MO. The company plans to celebrate with special events and customer promotions this summer and fall.
Over the past six decades, Peterson has grown from a small, automotive aftermarket supplier of such items as safety lighting and tire pumps, to a quarter-billion-dollar, multi-faceted corporation serving transportation-related industries around the world. Yet the family-owned company remains Grandview's “quiet giant,” virtually unknown by millions who see and use Peterson products every day.
“We're not exactly high-profile,” says Don Armacost Jr, president and chief executive officer and son of the Kansas City businessman who acquired the company from Wilbur Peterson. “My father often said he didn't want to be the biggest in the business — just the best.”
Today the company has a 450,000-square-foot headquarters. Many of its non-union workforce of more than 650 people are second- and third-generation Peterson associates.