In The Cradle of Industry and Liberty

@
JOWITT &
RODGERS CO.
Above: Jowitt & Rodgers Co. was originally
located at 1017 North Front Street in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known today as
northern Liberties.
Below: From left, the Rodgers brothers—
Arnold, Ernest, Fred V., and Fred, Sr.
Jowitt & Rodgers Co., a manufacturer of
industrial abrasives, is a privately held
business that has a storied history steeped in
family pride and dedication. Although the
firm has grown from a seed planted in
Philadelphia in 1951, its roots extend to an
earlier time in England.
George Jowitt worked as a knife grinder
for the Joseph Rodgers Cutlery Co. in
Sheffield, England, at the turn of the last
century. He became fascinated by the
introduction of artificial abrasive wheels that
were beginning to replace those made from
natural sandstone. Grinding with sandstone
abrasives was a dangerous occupation as the
wheels often broke apart, causing severe
injuries, and the dust produced while
grinding often led to silicosis. The new
artificial abrasive wheels greatly reduced
these dangers.
In 1907, George, along with his two sons,
formed a company to manufacture artificial
grinding wheels and developed their own,
proprietary resin bond to produce them. The
company grew through the next several
decades and during World War II an old
family acquaintance, Fred Rodgers, whose
family had immigrated to the United States,
reconnected with the Jowitts while he was
stationed in England. After the war, it was
decided that they would pool their resources
and start a company in the United States.
Jowitt & Rodgers Co. was opened in
Philadelphia in 1951.
It started in a small, rented shop on Front
Street manned by Fred, who was soon joined
by his two brothers, Arnold and Ernie. Not
long after, their father, Fred, Sr., joined them.
In 1961 the growing firm moved to its
present location on State Road. Since then,
the company has prospered and the building
has been expanded several times to keep up
with the company’s growth. It has grown
from four individuals in 1951 to roughly
sixty dedicated employees today.
In 1991, Jowitt & Rodgers Co., recognizing
the need to expand its product line into the
growing field of super-abrasives, purchased
Syntech Abrasives of Charlotte, North
Carolina. Super-abrasives use natural and
synthetic diamond and CBN (cubic boron
nitride) as the cutting agents. These
materials, although far more expensive, have
superior cutting ability and expanded the
market for Jowitt & Rodgers into new
industries and applications that require
grinding to much higher precision and speed.
The next major transition for Jowitt &
Rodgers Co. occurred in 2002 when the
interest held by the Jowitt family was
purchased by a small group led by the
Rodgers family as its major stockholder.
The Rodgers family, now into its third
generation, has steered the firm since then
and the company has continued to expand
and prosper. Jowitt & Rodgers is a dominant
player in its specialized field of abrasive
products. It has focused on supplying
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