page_title: Graybar
section_title: Formation of Graybar
hierarchical_section_title: Graybar / History / Formation of Graybar
caption_attribution_description: English: Graybar Building in New York City, http://www.nycofficesuites.com/graybar.htm
context_page_description: Graybar is an American employee-owned corporation, based in Clayton, Missouri. It conducts a wholesale distribution business for electrical, communications and data networking products, and is a provider of related supply-chain management and logistics services. It is included on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations.
  Founded in 1869 in Cleveland, Ohio, by Elisha Gray and Enos Barton, it was the origin of the Western Electric Company. On December 11, 1925, it was separately incorporated as Graybar Electric Company, Inc.
context_section_description: On December 31, 1920, the supply department of Western Electric was divided by forming operating divisions to handle general electrical supplies and telephone equipment, respectively.  Scores of electrical supply manufacturers were using the company's distribution network, and business relationships were formed. Some of these relationships, such as with General Electric and the Square D Company, are more than a century old and still exist today. Having become one of the largest merchandizers of electrical supplies in the world, the division was incorporated as a separate identity on December 11, 1925 with the name Graybar Electric Company, in honor of Western's original founders, Elisha Gray and Enos Barton. On January 1, 1927, Western Electric's holdings in Graybar were transferred to Electric Research Holdings, a Western Electric company. Graybar was sold to the Graybar Management Corporation on December 31, 1928, a company held by the employees of Graybar, who purchased their shares for its capitalized value, which consisted of $3 million in cash and $6 million in cumulative preferred stock.
  The Graybar Electric Company was capitalized at $9 million and consisted of 59 distributing houses in cities across the United States. Graybar had become the largest merchandiser of electrical supplies in the world.
  During the 1930s, the company explored many different avenues of income, including a line of appliances and sewing machines under the Graybar brand. By 1941 the company's sales volume was more than $100 million, the number of distribution houses had jumped to 86, and there was a corresponding increase in personnel. Also that year, the remaining outstanding shares of stock were purchased from Western Electric with a $1 million check signed by Graybar President Frank A. Ketcham.
  When the country entered World War II, Graybar's ingenuity and knowledge of logistics proved to be of immeasurable value in providing war-needed goods. Graybar became a vital link between America's manufacturers and America's defense needs. Defense-related business continued in the postwar era, with Graybar again aiding the military during the subsequent Korean War and Vietnam War. Overall the company enjoyed strong growth in the years following World War II, its momentum not checked until the recession of the mid-1970s, which led to Graybar slashing its workforce by 20%. As a result, when economic conditions improved in the 1980s Graybar was unable to gear up quickly enough to meet the rising demand for electrical products.
  The corporate headquarters moved from the Graybar Building in New York City to Clayton, Missouri in 1982.
caption: Graybar's corporate headquarters were located at the Graybar Building in New York City from 1927 until 1982.
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