From its early beginning in the late 1800’s to the modern facility it is today, SPI/Mobile pulley Works Inc, diversification has been key to growth and success all of these years. It began as an entrepreneur’s dream to leave England and start a new life in the American South. When his new venture in the citrus industry fell short of the stable success he desired, Mr. William Edgar arrived in the industrial Mobile and established a foundry.

He began producing items used in area’s many lumber camps. Stoves, pans, skillets-items in great demand boosted Edgar Foundry’s success, so the company moved to a larger tract property on Ann Street in 1897 where there was room for future expansion. Based on demand, the company began making such items as flat belt pulleys and gears. By 1904 the Edgar Foundry became incorporated as the Mobile Stove and Pulley Manufacturing Company. A period of steady growth followed as the company established itself as a supplier of pulleys, gears and other castings to the timber industry.

It was at this time that the company changed its name to Mobile Pulley and Machine Works to better reflect the diversified and industrial nature of the business. With the advent of WWI, artillery shells were produced, and Mobile Pulley became a major armament supplier to a government at war. But the war soon ended, and the company had to pursue new markets to keep the plant busy.