The History of L.A. Darling Company

People often ask us how we got our Darling name.

The company was founded as the Ideal Fixture Company in 1897 in Coldwater, Michigan. The first company plant was located nearby in Bronson, Michigan.

In the early part of the 20th century, Lewis Archer Darling bought the company and changed its name to L.A. Darling Company.

In 1960, the Pritzker family of Chicago purchased LAD and it joined what later became known as The Marmon Group of companies, an international association of more than 100 companies that operate independently within diverse business sectors. Marmon Group member companies had collective sales of about $5.8 billion in 2002.