H. E. Williams, Inc. was started in 1921 by Harold E. Williams in Carthage, Missouri. At that time, the company was known as H. E. Williams Products. For the first few years, the company produced various items such as kitchen utensils, static signs, cold storage lockers and even bicycle parts. By the mid-twenties, the company had settled into making various gadgets for automobiles such as folding luggage racks which would mount to running boards, canopies for rumble seats, radiator bug screens, underslung creepers and seat cushions. By the late 1930s items such as gas and radiator caps, sun visors and antennae were being produced, all under Williams patents. The 1939 Worlds Fair introduced as a new technology, fluorescent lighting. H. E. attended the fair and immediately set his mind to creating and manufacturing fixtures to house the new light source. By December of 1939 he was ordering machinery to manufacture lamp brackets. For more than 60 years, Williams fluorescent fixtures have been sold around the country for schools, offices, hospitals, retail establishments, warehouses and industrial applications.