Heritage
Heritage
We kept the receipts.
We kept the receipts.
Catalogs, price books, patents and plant photographs from 130 years of building for the trade. A brand this old doesn’t have to claim quality. It can show the paperwork.
Catalogs, price books, patents and plant photographs from 130 years of building for the trade. A brand this old doesn’t have to claim quality. It can show the paperwork.
Grand Rapids, Michigan · 1896
It started with a plumber’s complaint
Louis A. Cornelius was a master plumber, and like every master plumber he was tired of installing components that failed on someone else’s schedule. So in 1896 he started making his own inside a small two-story wood-frame building in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The fittings were brass and made largely by hand, sold factory-direct to the plumbers who used them. No retail layer, no middlemen. The products have changed completely since then. The business model has not.
Grand Rapids, Michigan · 1896
It started with a plumber’s complaint
Louis A. Cornelius was a master plumber, and like every master plumber he was tired of installing components that failed on someone else’s schedule. So in 1896 he started making his own inside a small two-story wood-frame building in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The fittings were brass and made largely by hand, sold factory-direct to the plumbers who used them. No retail layer, no middlemen. The products have changed completely since then. The business model has not.
THE ORIGINAL FACTORY, GRAND RAPIDS · COMPANY ARCHIVE
THE ORIGINAL FACTORY, GRAND RAPIDS · COMPANY ARCHIVE
Our promise
We build for the trade, we test past the standard, and we back it for life. If that sounds simple, it is. Simple is just hard to keep up for 130 years.
Our promise
We build for the trade, we test past the standard, and we back it for life. If that sounds simple, it is. Simple is just hard to keep up for 130 years.
The Record
130 years, condensed
Four dates carry most of the story. The rest is continuous production.
The Record
130 years, condensed
Four dates carry most of the story. The rest is continuous production.
1896
Louis A. Cornelius starts making his own fittings in Grand Rapids and sells them factory-direct to the trade. No retail layer, then or now.
1940
A laundry faucet enters the catalog and never leaves. Eight decades of continuous production, still specified today.
1973
The industry’s first ceramic cartridge. Most faucets made since carry its DNA.
2026
A straight line from the Wolverine Heritage Line to the Signature Series. Same argument, better tooling.
1896
Louis A. Cornelius starts making his own fittings in Grand Rapids and sells them factory-direct to the trade. No retail layer, then or now.
1940
A laundry faucet enters the catalog and never leaves. Eight decades of continuous production, still specified today.
1973
The industry’s first ceramic cartridge. Most faucets made since carry its DNA.
2026
A straight line from the Wolverine Heritage Line to the Signature Series. Same argument, better tooling.
Who we build for
The professional, and nobody else
Wolverine Brass has never chased the consumer aisle. The line is sold to professional plumbers and contractors through the trade, which is why it can be specified for durability and serviceability instead of for a shelf price and a blister pack.
Not stocked by mass-market retail
Repair parts maintained for products long out of production
District managers who run counter days and contractor training
Warranty handled through the distribution partner
Who we build for
The professional, and nobody else
Wolverine Brass has never chased the consumer aisle. The line is sold to professional plumbers and contractors through the trade, which is why it can be specified for durability and serviceability instead of for a shelf price and a blister pack.
Not stocked by mass-market retail
Repair parts maintained for products long out of production
District managers who run counter days and contractor training
Warranty handled through the distribution partner