Building Trust Since 1924

Austin Mohawk and Company, LLC came into being in 2004 with the merger of Austin Fabricating, Inc. and Mohawk Manufacturing, Inc., which were separate companies that have co-existed in the same facility since Austin Fabricating Co. of Atlantic City, NJ was purchased by John B. Millet, Jr. in 1993. Austin was started in Atlantic City in 1946 by Russell Austin as a fabricator of aluminum kiosks, buildings, and wall systems, and was sold by his wife after his death.

Mohawk Manufacturing, Inc. started in about 1983 as a manufacturer of service station canopies and had its antecedents from sister company, Mohawk Metal Products Co., Inc., a manufacturer of storage tanks for the petroleum industry.  Mohawk Metal Products Co., Inc. was started in 1924 in Schenectady, NY as the Mohawk Asphalt Heater Company, and was started and owned by James Van Vorst.  Ownership transferred to his son-in-law, Lawrence K. Dugan, in the early 1950s.  He, in turn, sold it to John B. Millet, Jr. in 1977.

Before 1977, Mohawk was principally a manufacturer of domestic heating oil tanks sold to the plumbing supply wholesale and petroleum retailing industries in New York State.  At various times Mohawk had also fabricated heat exchangers, furnace parts, swimming pools, truck bodies such as heating oil delivery trucks, and asphalt heaters.  The Company was a founding member of the Steel Tank Institute. The tank portion of the company was closed in May of 2000.

The Austin side of the business has grown significantly since its purchase through an expanded product line, as Austin has added steel factory-built buildings and steel shelters to the existing aluminum buildings and a sharply expanded marketing effort.

The Mohawk side of the business hit its highest watermark in the late 1990s during a period of very strong convenience store construction.  Canopies will continue to have a significant role in the future of convenience stores & Non-petroleum canopy usage is growing at a rapid rate.