Textron Inc.

History

Year	Detail
1923	Textron was started as a small textile company in 1923 by Royal Little, who founded the Special Yarns Corporation in Boston.
1920s	Special Yarns Corporation acquierd Franklin Rayon Dyeing Company and maintained operations in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
1930s	Changed the name of the company to Atlantic Rayon. Acquired a portion of an abandoned manufacturing plant in Lowell, Massachusetts, and used the facility for high-speed throwing of synthetic yarn to produce special effects in material, such as crepe.
1940s	The company has again changed its name to Textron, and Textron was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
1950s	Textron purchased its first non-textile business, St. Louis-based Burkart Manufacturing Co. that supplied cushioning materials to the automotive market. The company also acquired other companies like Homelite, Camcar, CWC.
1960s	Textron’s imprinted into the transportation industry with the purchases of two companies called Golf car manufacturer E-Z-GO and Textron Bell Aerospace, which included Bell Helicopter and bid farewell to the textile industry in 1963.
1970s	The company has acquired Jacobsen, which produces the world’s broadest lines of professional turf maintenance equipment and lawn care machinery.
1980s	It has continued to strengthen its position in the defense industry by forming Textron Marine & Land Systems from a Bell Helicopter business.
1990s	Textron acquired Cessna Aircraft Co., a leader in light and medium-sized commercial business jets—balanced Bell's significant defense-related business activity. Textron developed a laser-sharp focus on obtaining 100 percent of its revenues from its core businesses—aircraft, automotive, industrial and finance—and on increasing its international revenue as a source of growth.
2000s	As a part of its strategic divestitures and complementary acquisitions, the company has sold off its Fastening & Systems and Fluid & Power businesses and acquired Overwatch Systems and AAI.
2010s	The company has further penetrated the aviation market with the purchase of Beechcraft in 2014, forming a new business segment called Textron Aviation that includes three brands: Beechcraft, Cessna and Hawker. In 2019 Textron Specialized Vehicles (TSV) announced an exciting agreement with Bass Pro Shops under which TSV would design and manufacture a new line of high-performance side-by-sides and ATVs to be branded as Tracker Off Road and distributed by Bass Pro Shops.
2020s	Textron Aviation launched its Cessna, Citation Gen2 and Gen3 series for the Citation M2, Citation CJ3, Citation CJ4, Citation XLS, as well as introducing the Citation Ascend™ aircraft- representing the next generation of the company popular models.