BUSINESS

Henry Repeating Arms, a rifle and shotgun maker, is expanding production in Wisconsin

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Henry Repeating Arms makes a variety of rifles and shotguns, including this lever-action .30-30 hunting rifle. The company, which already has a large manufacturing facility in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, is expanding by adding a facility in Ladysmith, Wisconsin.

Henry Repeating Arms, a rifle and shotgun maker, is adding a new property to its Wisconsin operations.

Henry said in a statement this week that its new facility is an 84,000-square-foot building on 13.5 acres in Ladysmith. The large plot of land will allow the company to expand to facility in the future. That building is less than an hour away from the company's 140,000-sqaure-foot Wisconsin headquarters in Rice Lake.

Henry Repeating Arms, a lever-action rifle maker, is adding a new property to its Wisconsin operations. Henry's new facility is a 84,000-square-foot building on 13.5 acres in Ladysmith.

The company's product line consists of more than 200 models of rifles and shotguns. Henry specializes in lever-action firearms.

“Staking our flag at a new facility is the beginning of another exciting chapter in our company’s history, and we are wasting no time prepping the building for our machines,” said Andy Wickstrom, president of Henry Repeating Arms, in a news release. “We thank the state of Wisconsin and Rusk County officials for keeping the door open for us, and we look forward to adding members of another great Wisconsin community to our family.”

Demand for guns and ammo has increased in recent years, driving growth at Henry.

Parts for the company's firearms products will be machined at the Ladysmith facility.

Henry expects that the new facility in Ladysmith will employ more than 100 people in the Rusk County area within three years.

“We’re excited to see Henry Repeating Arms make a commitment to Ladysmith and Rusk County. They are an employer we are eager to see grow in our community for years to come,” said Andy Albarado, Rusk County administrator and economic development coordinator, in a news release.

With the new property, Henry has 350,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

The company, which also has a manufacturing facility in Bayonne, N.J., started operating in Wisconsin in 2006.

Henry Repeating Arms dates back to 1860 when Benjamin Tyler Henry invented and patented a repeating rifle during the Civil War.

Sarah Hauer can be reached at shauer@journalsentinel.com or on Instagram @HauerSarah and Twitter @SarahHauer. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter Be MKE at jsonline.com/bemke.