In July 2021, Barry found himself hunting for information in Bowling Green, Ohio while doing research on a Jeep promotional movie. On a hunch he decided to again tackle the question of who owned Green Manufacturing.
Several online attempts to contact the current owners failed, but a phone call did yield a glimmer of hope. The person who answered the phone had been a long time employee, but didn’t have any knowledge of farm implements being produced. She did say that the company had been bought and sold at least a couple of times since it was Green Manufacturing.
Barry then contacted the Wood County Museum, sending them a copy of the “Greenline” plow ad showing the Bowling Green address. The next day he received a note saying that they had found information about who had purchased the original Green Manufacturing and provided contact information.
Here is what we have learned from Jeff Snook, former owner of Green Manufacturing and now owner/operator of Snook’s Dream Cars (www.snooksdreamcars.com):
Hi Barry,
My history with Green Mfg. did not include any Jeep connection, but here is what I remember hearing.
Bob Green, founder of Green Mfg. somehow was connected with Jeep in the 50s I believe. I recall hearing stories of him making implements. Don’t recall which, but it looks like plows based on your literature. I do recall he made post hole diggers for Jeeps as we continued that business into the late 1990s. But the ones we made were sold through farm implement dealers and not Jeep related. They were all 3-point hitch mounted.
We continued using the Greenline name on our posthole diggers and other implements (wagon gear & scraper blades) until I sold the business. Green Mfg also made hydraulic cylinders (turned out to be the largest part of our business) and I’m sure they evolved as part of the Jeep 3-point hitch connection.
Here is the Green Mfg. ownership history
1968 Robert Green sells to Wilde Manufacturing (Michigan company)
1969 William Snook hired by Wilde to run company
1974 William Snook buys company from Wilde & Jeff Snook comes on board
1989 Jeff Snook buys company from Bill Snook
1998 Jeff Snook sells company
Bob Green stayed on for 5 years as sales manager once he sold the company. He was an old car guy (like my Dad) and was involved in making overdrives for Franklin automobiles. As far as I know, he continued in the overdrive business until he passed away.
As shown, I sold the business in 1998 and all the records are gone, along with most of the folks that were around during that time. If I can find any old employees that might remember, I’ll send them your way.
According to his obituary, “Bob founded, owned and operated Green Manufacturing in 1955 and sold the business in 1967. He then opened J.D. HYdraulics in Portage, Ohio and later sold the business in 1987. He was a member of Pioneer Auto Club in Findlay and was an avid flyer.”
We continue to search for more details of Robert Green’s twenty years of impacting the Farm Jeep world. We thank him for his many contributions.
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