History of Ennis Manufacturing Co. and Vernontown Tools

Ennis catalog cover

Organized 24 Dec. 1929, Ennis Manufacturing Co. took over the factory of Reading Saddle & Manufacturing Co., 316 Maple St., Reading, PA. John L. Ennis had been one of the organizers of Reading Saddle in 1900. By 1944 Ennis had moved to 8th and Oley Streets, Reading.

Ennis made many of the hardware specialties that Reading Saddle had made, with fewer cast iron items and more forged steel tools. The quality of Ennis products ranged from low to average, for the household market. Later Ennis items carried the brand name Vernontown Tools. These included average quality concrete and plaster finishing trowels in carbon steel and stainless steel, guaranteed against blade breakage. Both Ennis and Vernontown items have a logo of "NS" in a diamond, a phonetic rendering of "Ennis".

Ennis's building was damaged by fire 28 Jan. 1969, but the company continued operating for an unknown time. The Vernontown trademark was taken over by Barco Industries for "masonry tools; namely, margin trowels, pointing trowels, brick trowels, plastering trowels, spreaders, floats, putty knives, linoleum knives, scrapers, groovers, edgers, and tampers."  The Vernontown trademark was cancelled 21 Feb. 2004. Barco history is covered at Yesteryears Tools.

Vernontown stainless steel plastering trowel 11'' X 4.5 ''