Gleason Reel Celebrates 115 Years in Business

On Saturday, Sept. 19, Gleason Reel in Mayville held an open house to celebrate 115 years in business.

Gleason Reel was founded in 1911 by J.L. Gleason was later bought by their current parent company, Hubbell Industrial Products Group, in 1996. They specialize in cable and hose management, as well as industrial reels (data, wind and electrical reels), power tracks, festoon systems and much more. Their products are meant to improve the safety, efficiency and productivity of jobs in industrial workspaces.

The open house had a good outcome, from old retirees of the company bringing their families to community members touring the facility.

For their open house, Gleason Reel opened up their factory to the public, allowing them to do a self guided tour of their facility. Community members did need to sign waivers upon entry, but after that, they were allowed to walk through the facility, which was taped off to guide people where they could go. Operations were not happening that day. Instead, employees had tables in their sections where they could tell community members more about what they do, and even give examples of what their products look like. They even had a small area with som activities for kids to take a break and play some games like ring toss, bean bags, dunk a duck and milk bottle topple.

Gleason Reel used to have two plant locations, but when the tornado his Mayville on May 15, 2025, they lost their other location that was located on S. Cark Street. When this happened, operations were in progress, and eight people were in the building. Thankfully, the working manager was able to get everyone into a safe location and everyone survived with very little to no injury. After that, they had to rebuild their second (now only) location to fit everything that both locations had.

The open house was not only to celebrate 115 years, but also show how far the company has come and rebuilt in the year and a half since the tornado.