Quote:
Originally Posted by farmkid
Iberia, OH is about 6 miles from Galion, OH where the Iberia plant now is. I'm guessing that it started down the road and later moved to Galion.
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It didn't, as I've found. I posted the following material on the bryco-jennings forum, but thought that it was perhaps more appropriate here:
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I've been searching public records, and from them have organized the following timeline, with some comments/suppositions of my own:
09/04/1987
Company: Stallard Arms, Inc.
Signatory: Edward Boyd Stallard
Action: Incorporated: 728 Fairfax Ave. Mansfield, OH
09/23/1987
Company: Cole-Lective Mfg. Inc. (later to become Iberia)
Signatory: James C. Cole
Action: Incorporated: 3929 St. Rt. 309, Galion, OH
10/13/1987
Company: Haskell Manufacturing, Inc.
Signatory: Russell Kenneth Hill, Dreama Rose Hill, Michael J. Bender, Jr.
Action: Incorporated: 1221 North McKinley, Lima, OH
* Summary: in late 1987, and within six weeks, the three companies that would become Hi-Point were incorporated.
Roughly six months later...
04/28/1988
Company: Beemiller Distributing Co.
Signatory: Thomas E. Deeb
Action: Incorporated: 4251 Flowers Road, Mansfield, OH.
* At the time of incorporation, the following was given as the purpose of Beemiller:
"(1) To purchase, receive by way of gift, subscribe, invest in, and in all other ways acquire, import, lease, possess, maintain, handle on consignment, own, hold for investment or otherwise use, enjoy, exercise, operate, manage, conduct, perform, make, borrow, contract in respect of, trade and deal in, sell, exchange, let, lend, export, mortgage, pledge, deed in trust, hypothecate, encumber, transfer, assign and in all other ways dispose of, develop, invent, improve, equip, repair, alter, fabricate, assemble, build, construct, operate, manufacture, plant, cultivate, produce, market, and in all other ways (whether like or unlike any of the foregoing) , deal in and with property of every kind and character, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible, wherever situated and however held, including but not limited to, money, credits, choses in action, securities, stocks, bonds, warrants, script certificates, debentures, mortgages, notes, commercial paper, and other obligations and evidences of interest or indebtedness of any government, or subdivision or agency thereof, documents of title, and accompanying rights, and every other kind and character of personal property, real property (improved or unimproved), and the products and avails thereof, and every character of interest therein and appurtenance thereto, including, but not limited to, mineral, oil, gas and water rights, all or any part of any going business and its incidents, franchises, subsidiaries, subsidies, charters, concessions, grants, rights, powers, or privileges, granted or conferred by any government or subdivision or agency thereof, and any interest in or part of any of the foregoing, and to exercise in respect thereof all of the rights, powers, privileges, and immunities of individual owners or holders thereof.
(2) To hire and employ agents, servants, and employees, to enter into agreements of employment and collective bargaining agreements, and to act as agent, contractor, factor, or otherwise, either alone or in company with others.
(3) To promote or aid in any manner, financially or otherwise, any person, firm, association or corporation.
(4) To let concessions to others to do any of the things that this corporation is empowered to do, and to enter into, make, perform, and carry out, contracts and arrangements of every kind and character with any person, firm, association or corporation, or any government or authority or subdivision or agency thereof.
(5)
To carry on any and all acts or actions that may be involved and/or incident to the distribution or sale of any firearms that the corporation has been licensed and/or authorized to posses, sell and/or distribute by any government or subdivision or agency thereof.
(6) To carry on any business whatsoever that this corporation may deem proper or convenient in connection with any of the foregoing purposes or otherwise, or that it may deem calculated, directly or indirectly, to improve the interests of this corporation, and to have and to exercise all powers conferred by the laws of the State of Ohio on corporations formed under the laws pursuant to which and under which this corporation is formed, as such laws are now in effect or may at any time hereafter be amended, and to do any and all things hereinabove set forth to the same extent and as fully as natural persons might or could do, either alone or in connection with other persons, firms, associations, or corporations, and in any part of the world."
Though firearms are mentioned, the broad scope suggests that Mr. Deeb had a number of ideas in play at the time, and wanted the flexibility to turn Beemiller in whatever direction was appropriate later.
In summary, the three manufacturers were founded nearly simultaneously, as if in concert. Beemiller is founded as a distributor a short time later. Though I haven't found a connection between Messrs. Stallard, Cole, Hill, and Deeb, it seems as if they were planning a cooperating group of three manufacturers making different-caliber pistols along a common design, to be distributed through Beemiller.
* A 2 1/2 year period intervenes here. Presumably, Beemiller was distributing firearms from three companies during this time. Records suggest that things change at this point...
10/15/1990
Company: Iberia Firearms Inc.
Signatory: James C. Cole, S. (Sarah) Jane Cole
Action: Name change from Cole-Lective Mfg., Inc. James Cole remains president as of 2011.
01/09/1992
Company: Beemiller Distributing Co.
Signatory: Th E D
Action: Registered “Hi-Point Firearms” trade name
10/09/1992
Signatory: Thomas and Shirley Deeb
Action: Purchased 1015 Springmill Road, Mansfield, OH
10/30/1992
Company: Beemiller Distributing Co.
Signatory: Thomas E. Deeb, Shirley J. Deeb
Action: Renamed to Beemiller Inc.
* These steps show further consolidation: the introduction of the Hi-Point name, and the establishment and renaming of Beemiller as a manufacturing, rather than distribution, entity. The purchase of the Springmill Road location suggests that Stallard was bought out and relocated at this time.
* Haskell pistols are rebranded as Hi-Point:
05/16/1994
Company: Haskell Manufacturing, Inc.
Signatory: Russell K. Hill
Action: Registered “Hi-Point Firearms” trade name; Permission for use given by Th D (Thomas Deeb), 4/15/94.
01/16/1997
Company: Stallard Arms, Inc.
Action: Dissolved
* Presumably this was because the name had been obsolete since its acquisition by Beemiller. From here on, the relationship between the three companies appears to remain as it does today.
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Sadly, two of the parties involved in the evolution of Hi-Point have passed away prematurely: Ed Stallard died on Sept. 29, 2006 at age 55, and Dreama Hill died earlier this year, on March 15, 2011, age 60.
Thank you both for your contributions to Hi-Point.
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