KEYSTONE DISPLAY HISTORY
Jack Havlis started Keystone Metal Products in Chicago in the 1930's, making bird cages, candle sconces and other wire and metal parts. The company ceased operation during World War II due to material shortages. After the war, the Company resumed operations in Hebron, Illinois, 60 miles northwest of Chicago, and just south of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
During the 1960's, Keystone got involved with several projects involving spinner trees and developed its own collapsible spinner base. By the early 1970's, when Jack's son John took over, the Company's business was almost exclusively displays, and the corporate name became Keystone Display. During the 1970's and 1980's Keystone expanded its operations, customer base and sales volume as a reliable and efficient display manufacturer, with heavy emphasis on grid-oriented products.
In the early 1990's John Havlis retired and sold the business to the Streit family. John Streit became the president of Keystone Display. The 1990's were a period of extensive growth for Keystone, with sales doubling between 1993 and 1999. Plant additions were built in 1994, 1996, and 1999, and the company made extensive capital investments in state-of-the-art welding, bending, punching, and powder-coating equipment. During this period, Keystone converted to a design-capable sales staff, which is well equipped to help clients take new projects from concept to production.
Today, Keystone Display employs over 75 people and serves over 100 customers from our 70,000 square foot facility.
