Crane Company traces its origins to 1855, when Richard Teller Crane established a brass-and-bell foundry in Chicago, supplying industrial brass goods and steam-heating equipment to a rapidly industrializing America. By the 1860s, known as Northwest Manufacturing, it expanded into elevators and steam components, ultimately becoming Crane Co. in 1890 and producing valves and fittings vital for urban infrastructure. Growth continued through the late 19th and early 20th centuries via innovations in metallurgy, early adoption of electric-powered factories, and the construction of a major Chicago campus, while branching into plumbing fixtures and decorative bathroom ensembles in the 1920s .
As the company matured, it moved beyond plumbing, entering aerospace and industrial sectors. The family’s control ended in 1959, ushering in a global expansion strategy. Over subsequent decades, Crane exited public-facing plumbing, honed in on engineered fluid-handling, aerospace, electronics, and materials, earning contracts for NASA’s Space Shuttle braking systems, the Gemini and Apollo programs, and infrastructural applications like the Golden Gate Bridge. By the early 2000s, Crane had transformed into an industrial conglomerate, integrating businesses via targeted acquisitions in pumps, engineered materials, and proprietary control systems .
In April 2023, Crane Company separated from Crane Holdings and spun off its payment and merchandising divisions (Crane NXT), positioning itself as a focused public entity trading under NYSE: CR. The standalone firm now concentrates on three core platforms—Aerospace & Electronics, Process Flow Technologies (formerly Fluid Handling), and Engineered Materials—with roughly 7,000 employees globally. Its products span critical valves, pumps, sensors, and mission-critical components for sectors such as aerospace, defense, chemical processing, wastewater, and pharmaceuticals.
Recent acquisitions—including water-technology firm Bayard—bolster its pipeline and wastewater offerings, while continued investment in precision aerospace components and advanced materials enhances its value in high-performance markets . Crane's long-standing emphasis on R&D, coupled with a disciplined approach to capital allocation and focused growth post-separation, positions it to serve as a key infrastructure and industrial enabler worldwide.