Troy-Bilt has been a fixture in the lawn care market for the better part of the past century, having delivered the market’s first residential tiller to the masses in 1937. Over the ensuing decades, the Troy-Bilt name has continued to earn respect in the residential sector, with fans recently anointing its riding lawn mowers as the best available to consumers.
Troy-Bilt is also a distinctly American brand and can trace its founding back to its namesake city, Troy, New York. It was Carl Kelsey who brought the company into being, though Troy-Bilt wasn’t actually called that back then. In fact, it originally operated as the Rototiller Company before changing its name to WATCO in the 1960s, and primarily traded in the rototiller market. WATCO introduced the Troy-Bilt brand name, and in 1968, the parent company changed its own name to Garden Way, which it kept until filing for bankruptcy in 2001
It may surprise you to learn that Troy-Bilt didn’t start making lawn mowers for several years after that initial name change, though the device became a staple in the brand’s lineup after Modern Tool and Die took control in 2001. MTD spent two decades bolstering Troy-Bilt’s reputation in the lawn mower market before being acquired by major lawn mower player Stanley Black & Decker in 2021. SB&D still owns the brand today, qualifying it as the current maker of Troy-Bilt mowers. Troy-Bilt maintains its corporate presence in the U.S. and is now headquartered in Valley City, Ohio.
Here’s where Troy-Bilt mowers are made
It’s worth noting, of course, that Stanley Black & Decker’s manufacturing footprint is very much a global affair. In fact, products from some of the company’s most notable brands are made in factories far from U.S. shores. That nugget leads to questions about where, exactly, in the world Troy-Bilt’s lawn mowers are being manufactured these days…