History

A Century’s Worth of Innovation.

Clay & Bailey 100 Years

Since our early days, Clay & Bailey Manufacturing has been fueled by innovative thinking.  Founded in 1913, by George Clay and his brother-in-law, Harry Bailey, who had a vision to form a company that could improve upon steel tanks used by the petroleum industry. George and Harry had been working to make special fittings for the tanks from George’s garage for several years. By 1913, they were confident enough in future orders to strike out on their own—Clay & Bailey Manufacturing was born.

Just a decade later, Clay & Bailey had grown enough to expand to a new location near the large steel manufacturing plants in Kansas City, MO. The new location George and Harry chose was next door to Morgan Foundry Company, which supplied castings to Clay & Bailey. Shortly after moving to the new facility, Clay & Bailey purchased Morgan Foundry thus expanding the company’s product lines into construction casting, service roadway and valve boxes.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s, Clay & Bailey added an engineering department and continued to expand its product offerings. Each expansion allowed Clay & Bailey to better service the petroleum and casting industries, offering a true concept to completion environment.

Our founders, George Clay and Harry Bailey focused on producing quality products while continually looking for ways to solve industry problems. This focus on quality and innovation has allowed Clay & Bailey to thrive—through the Great Depression and beyond. Quality and innovation continue to be the hallmarks of Clay & Bailey Manufacturing. As we look ahead at our next century of business, we know that as we expand our manufacturing capacity, we will continue to be an innovative leader, providing our customers with the top-notch quality they’ve come to expect from Clay & Bailey.