Armitage–Herschell Company Scottish immigrant Allan Herschell, with James Armitage, created the
Armitage–Herschell Company in 1872. Originally an
iron foundry, it branched out into hand-carved wooden carousels in 1883. The company produced a range of barrel-organ based products, suited for all ranges of fairground attraction. Armitage–Herschell carved many portable carousels, made in the simple "country fair" style. Surviving steam riding galleries are located in Mississippi and Maine. In 1901, Herschell left the company due to financial complications, thus allowing de Kliest to buy the pair out, and seek new investment from his association with
Rudolph Wurlitzer. Armitage–Herschell declared bankruptcy and went out-of-business in 1903.
Herschell–Spillman Company (later Spillman Engineering Company) Herschell created the
Herschell–Spillman Company in 1901 with his in-laws, the Spillmans. After Armitage–Herschell declared bankruptcy in 1903, Herschell–Spillman bought its assets. The
Herschell–Spillman Motor Company Complex at North Tonawanda was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 2013. Herschell retired from the company due to declining health in 1911. The company dropped Herschell's name in 1916 and became known as the
Spillman Engineering Company. It continued to make the same style of carousels, though later it focused more on horses with a few
menagerie-styled machines. Surviving carousels can be seen in North Carolina and the
Strong National Museum of Play in
Rochester, New York. It went out-of-business in 1945 when it was bought out by the Allan Herschell Company. Its factory, bought in 1915, is located on Thompson Street in North Tonawanda. It is one of the last factory complexes in the United States to contain the production of wooden carousels. The complex was expanded to meet the growing company's needs. The building has a large carving shop, a woodworking shop, a paint shop, a storage area, an upholstery shop, a machine shop, and a roundhouse where the carousels were assembled and tested. ==Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum==