Brillion Iron Works, or BIW, was a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

and a manufacturer of farm implements located in

Brillion, Wisconsin Brillion ( ) is a city in Calumet County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,262 as of the 2020 census. The city is located within the Town of Brillion, though it is politically independent. History Brillion is named after the town ...

. BIW produced approximately 145,000 net tons of

gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

and

ductile iron Ductile iron, also known as ductile cast iron, nodular cast iron, spheroidal graphite iron, spheroidal graphite cast iron and SG iron, is a type of graphite-rich cast iron discovered in 1943 by Keith Millis. While most varieties of cast iron are ...

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or ...

s annually, ranking it among the top ten

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

foundries in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Brillion Iron Works originated in 1890 as a manufacturer of

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the Koala#Characteristics, koala (which has two thumb#O ...

and farm tools. The

was added in 1900 when the plant was relocated and new buildings were added. In 1969, the company became a division of

Beatrice Foods Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food conglomerate founded in 1894. One of the best-known food processing companies in the U.S., Beatrice owned many well-known brands such as Tropicana, Krispy Kreme, Jolly Rancher, Orville Reden ...

; in 1985, they became part of The Robins Group; in 1988, the company became a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of Truck Components; and, in 2005, they became an Accuride company. The company was sold to Metaldyne Performance Group in September 2016 and was closed shortly thereafter in November 2016. As of December 2019 demolition of the Brillion Iron Works site had begun. The Brillion Iron Works site has been rebranded a
BrillionWorks
and is planned to be a mixed use space consisting of office, retail, and dining.

References

External links

Brillion farm equipment siteBrillionWorks New Site Plans
Ironworks and steel mills in the United States Agricultural machinery manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Wisconsin Buildings and structures in Calumet County, Wisconsin Industrial buildings and structures in Wisconsin Manufacturing companies established in 1890 1890 establishments in Wisconsin {{Wisconsin-stub