Empire Pencil Company was founded in 1900 in Shelbyville, TN (also known as Pencil City), and 46 years later it merged with Providence Pencil Company. It was around this time that brothers Merril and Harold Hassenfeld, Providence natives whose family owned a small toy manufacturer called Hasbro ("Hassenfeld Brothers"), acquired Empire.
Harold moved to Tennessee to run Empire, and in 1980 it became an independent company. At that time, it was the largest pencil manufacturer in the United States.
In 1986, Empire merged with Connecticut-based Berol to form Empire/Berol Corp, and Harold continued as chairman of the board until his retirement in 1988. Interestingly, around this time, the company produced the Pedigree brand of colored pencils with the same logo, only flipped upside down.
In the mid-90s, Empire/Berol merged with Sanford Corp., which is now a division of Newell Brands.
Made in the USA.
