Unity Manufacturing Co

Overview

Unity Manufacturing Company has built vehicle lighting in Chicago since 1918, becoming a maker of automotive, truck and emergency vehicle lights under the ownership of Henry Rew Gross from 1923. Post-mount spotlights entered production in the mid-1920s and road lights for cars and heavy trucks followed in the 1930s, before wartime work in the late 1930s and 1940s produced lights for land and sea use, including the decklight originally developed for the Navy. After the war its spotlights became factory options on American cars, and a 1961 move to a 150,000 square foot facility on North Clybourn Avenue let the company expand into emergency lighting for police, fire and other emergency vehicles. The business has stayed under single family ownership, with Louis E. Gross president from 1953 and Timothy S. Gross since 1998. Unity describes itself as the world’s largest manufacturer of post-mount spotlights and a major OE supplier of auxiliary and emergency lighting products. Its catalogue covers spotlights, decklights, rooflights, roadlights, X-LED units, worklights and parts, sold direct and built to order.