Sheboygan Paint Co. marks 100 years with time capsule
A family’s commitment to the company started by their ancestors and the importance of a community’s role in it was celebrated last year at a Cedartown industry.
Sheboygan Paint Company, which was founded in 1921 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to produce varnish for the wooden chair manufacturing industry, marked its 100th anniversary at the site of its only other plant in the United States when it buried a time capsule as part of a ceremony in front of its Canal Street facility on Oct. 1, 2021.
The company, which has been helmed by the Brownrigg family for four generations, formulates and supplies custom industrial finishing solutions to meet customer-coating requirements through the development and adaptation of new coatings technologies.
Sheboygan Paint set up its second and only other manufacturing facility in Cedartown in 1984, when its customer base began to expand into the Southeastern United States, particularly in Rome when General Electric produced midsize transformers. in its West Rome factory.
Most important to the company’s history here was to make sure they moved to a location in the south that looks a lot like what they had back home in Wisconsin.
“Cedartown has been here a while also, and we were glad that we were able to open a plant down here. It’s because of the people that have been involved in the operations here that we’ve had some of our greatest successes,” said Brock Brownrigg, former president and current chairman of the board.
Plant manager Scott Porterfield explained the importance of everything going into the time capsule, including a full list of every Cedartown employee, a card
signed by the current employees, memorabilia from the COVID-19 pandemic like masks and hand sanitizer, plus other items like a copy of a resolution passed by State Representative Trey Kelley for the occasion, and a sample of a new patent pending paint that Sheboygan Paint Company proposed.
The ceremony featured participation by Brock Brownrigg and members of the fifth generation of the family, as well as CEO Peter Kirton.
“What’s going in here are mementos of how we’ve flourished, really, and the hope that the next generations will be celebrating 200 years and follow the same process,” Kirton said.
The plant is a constant contributor to local charities and community service projects, including Habitat for Humanity and school paint projects.
It collected $244 through its “Pennies for a Purpose” program last year and presented the money to the city of Cedartown for it to be used to assist elderly residents who need help paying their utility bills.