How it started
History
The company was founded in 1846 in Providence, Rhode Island. It initially manufactured gold and silver casings for pencils, reflecting the Cross family's history as jewelers. The company was founded by Richard Cross, who passed it on to his son, Alonzo T. Cross.
The company developed many innovative new writing instruments, including forerunners of the modern mechanical pencils, and the earliest stylographic pens. In the 1960s, the company moved its headquarters to a large facility (about 155,000 square feet) in Lincoln, Rhode Island.
After trading on the NASDAQ for five years (under the now-defunct symbol ATX), the company was sold in 2013 to Clarion Capital Partners, LLC, but it retained its headquarters in Lincoln, Rhode Island. The Sheaffer pen company was acquired by A.T. Cross in 2014.
In May 2016, with its headquarters in Lincoln becoming too large, the company accepted a set of tax credits and incentives in exchange for moving its headquarters to Providence, Rhode Island. The new headquarters, measuring about 4200 square feet, is located at The Foundry, the former Brown and Sharpe Manufacturing Company Complex at 299 Promenade Street in Providence. Most employees were moved to the new location by October 2016. In January 2021, the company moved within the complex to 295 Promenade Street. This was a significantly smaller building, as the company moved to a hybrid work from home scheme due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to its US manufacturing base, the company, in 1973, opened a manufacturing plant in Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland, mainly serving the European market, until its closure in late 2000.
From Wikipedia’s article on A. T. Cross Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2