Inside the old Holo-Krome building, made up of about eleven connected blocks at the far end of Brook Street along the west side of the rail line running between New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, there wasn’t much left. After the company’s move to Wallingford, the place was pretty much empty. Most of the old machines had already been packed up and sent to the new facility. All that remained were piles of scrap metal scattered around the floor. The building was demolished in 2018.
The building itself was something to see. Its sawtooth roof, complete with skylights, was a rare sight in today’s world of modern warehouses and factories. But this building wasn’t part of the sale. Environmental concerns and the high cost of upkeep kept it off the market.
What stands out in this story is what happened next. Fastenal, the company that bought Holo-Krome’s machinery and inventory, had planned to ship everything to its big factory in Minnesota. But once they got a good look at who was still working on the factory floor, they changed their minds.
It turned out that many of the machine operators had been with Holo-Krome for over 20 years. That kind of experience is rare, and it mattered, especially when it came to making the high-quality socket head screws used in everything from Harley-Davidson motorcycles and mining equipment to Disney rides, military vehicles, and diesel engines.
Fastenal realized they weren’t just buying machines; they were buying the know-how that kept those machines running smoothly. So they decided to keep the operation in Connecticut, with the same skilled workers, ensuring those critical screws would keep rolling off the production line.
Holo-Krome: A Connecticut Legacy in Socket Screws
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| Before there was Holo-Krome Screw Corporation along Brook Street, in 1923, stood the Hartford Tube Products Company just below Brook Street. Then, around 1936-1950, it became the E. F. Keating Pipe Bending Company, and Holo-Krome is now present after its move from Hartford, and above Holo-Krome is the Jacobs Manufacturing Company, manufacturer of drill chucks along Jacobs Road. |
Holo-Krome has been making socket screws for nearly a century, and it all started back in 1929 in Hartford, Connecticut. The company soon relocated to West Hartford in 1936 and, in 2010, made its most recent move to an 187,000-square-foot facility in Wallingford, bringing over 100 workers along.
From the beginning, Holo-Krome has been at the forefront of American manufacturing. It made a name for itself by producing socket screws using an innovative method called “cold forming” or “heading,” which replaced the more expensive process of machining. This method helped the company weather the Great Depression and solidified its reputation as a domestic leader in socket screw products. Today, Holo-Krome is known for its high-strength, grade 12.9 socket screws and its own Thermo-Forged® process, which produces precise, durable fasteners used in everything from motorcycles and mining equipment to military vehicles.
The man behind Holo-Krome’s start was William Arthur Purtell, a Hartford-born former salesman at Allen Manufacturing Company. Purtell didn’t have a background in engineering or manufacturing. In fact, before stepping into the world of screws and bolts, he worked as a file clerk in an insurance office, a railroad yard worker, and later an assistant traffic manager at Colt Firearms. In 1950, he even ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor. Despite his unconventional path, Purtell, with the help of a few friends, pulled together enough resources to start the Holo-Krome Screw Corporation in rented space on Pliny Street in Hartford. Just five months later, the Great Depression threatened to shut the operation down. But Purtell’s focus on cold-formed socket screws helped the company survive and eventually thrive.
After bouncing between temporary locations, Holo-Krome returned to Pliny Street before establishing a dedicated factory on Brook Street in West Hartford in 1936. The company’s success continued, and in 1946, it was acquired by Veeder-Root, a local maker of counting devices. Even after the acquisition, Holo-Krome’s 300 workers kept the operation running as a subsidiary.
While much of the U.S. fastener industry moved overseas in the 1970s and ’80s, Holo-Krome remained loyal to its Connecticut roots and its employees. However, the financial crisis of 2008 brought the company to the brink. That’s when Fastenal, a Minnesota-based distributor of industrial supplies, stepped in. Fastenal, which sells everything from screws and tools to electrical supplies and safety gear, bought Holo-Krome from Danaher Tool Group, a conglomerate with $11 billion in annual revenue. The deal kept Holo-Krome afloat.
Fastenal soon relocated Holo-Krome’s operations to Wallingford, into a former GE Medical Systems building purchased for $6 million. This move, coupled with a renewed interest in American manufacturing, has helped Holo-Krome regain its footing. Today, the company continues to produce essential socket screws used in a wide range of industries, keeping alive a legacy of craftsmanship and resilience that started with a handful of determined workers in Hartford nearly a hundred years ago.
Tecca Ventures, a development company, is currently working on a permit application for a lot line revision that would combine two properties: a wooded section of the site at 60 Brook Street with a wooded lot at 230 Newington Road. The plan? To create space for 27 townhouses—19 with one bedroom and eight with two bedrooms.
But before any construction can begin, the site would need a zoning change from West Hartford’s Town Council. That might not be a problem. Historically, the council has approved every one of the last twelve development proposals that have come its way.
Still, nothing’s guaranteed. Tecca Ventures knows that all too well. Their previous proposal to build townhouses just over the line in Bloomfield, right on the West Hartford border, was denied last August.
Will this time be different?
š© Did You Work at Holo-Krome?
Were you one of the machine operators with 20+ years at the Brook Street factory? Did you work under the sawtooth skylights before the 2010 move to Wallingford? Do you have photos from inside the West Hartford plant, or stories about William Purtell's early days? Your memories preserve what was demolished in 2018.
Drop a comment below or contact me directly. Full credit given to all contributors.
š©
More Connecticut Manufacturing History
Source(s):
1. Walsh, M. (2025, April 10). West Hartford vacant lot, industrial site could become 27 townhouses. Greenwich Time. Retrieved from https://www.greenwichtime.com/westhartford/article/west-hartford-ct-newington-road-brook-townhouse-20267300.php
2. Preservation Connecticut. (n.d.). Holo-Krome Screw Corp. DEMO'D 2018. Making Places. Retrieved May 7, 2025, from https://connecticutmills.org/find/details/holo-krome-screw-corp
3. Holo-Krome. (2024, June 19). Holo-Krome to celebrate 95 years. Industrial Distribution. https://www.inddist.com/operations/news/22913128/holokrome-to-celebrate-95-years
4. American Aerospace Manufacturers Association. (2024, May 7). Holo-Krome celebrates 95 years manufacturing in Connecticut. Aerospace Manufacturing and Design. https://www.aerospacemanufacturinganddesign.com/news/holo-krome-celebrates-95-years-manufacturing-connecticut/
5. Gosselin, K. R. (2010, December 12). Holo-Krome comes back from the brink. Hartford Courant. https://www.courant.com/2010/12/12/holo-krome-comes-back-from-the-brink/
6. Global Fastener News. (2014, June 3). Holo-Krome relocating after 81 years: Global Fastener News USA. https://www.globalfastenernews.com/holo-krome-relocating-after-81-years-global-fastener-news-usa/
7. Zaretsky, M. (2017, June 16). Wallingford company finds talent through apprenticeship program. New Haven Register. https://www.nhregister.com/business/article/Wallingford-company-finds-talent-through-11351958.php
8. (1950) Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut. Sanborn Map Company, Vol. 3, - Aug 1950. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01132_011/
9. (1923) Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from West Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut. Sanborn Map Company. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01194_001/
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