Around 1998 I was invited to come to the Bennett Pump Co. in Muskegon, MI. There were three people there, that was all that was left of the Bennett Pump Co.
Prior to this time the company had been owned by Compagnie Generale des Eaux of Paris, France. This company was about to close the doors of Bennett.
The three men who were there were the new owners of Bennett. It was a Thursday that I arrived and the three men were trying to finish assembling the last Bennett Pump.
When they purchased the company they got a grant from a community just outside of Muskegon. With the grant they purchased/leased? a building for the new Bennett Pump Co.
This was the start of the new Bennett Pump Co.
A larger history of the Bennett Pump Co. can be found in the beginning of each of my two Gas Pump ID books. I also have put the histories of all the pump companies I have been able to identify on this page of my website:
http://petrolianacollectibles.com/company_histories.htmSome correction to the Bennett history needs to be done, you learn as you go along. Originally in 1928 Bennett was purchased by the John Wood Co. Wood then formed the Service Station Equipment Co. as a division. Then Wood made Bennett, Shotwell, ECO and ARO (and some companies that had nothing to do with service stations) subsidiaries of SSEC.
Bennett is very much in business today, the next time you buy gas you may be using a Bennett pump.
Jack Sim
