The company was founded in 1901 at 160 East Lake street in Chicago as the McMaster-Davis Supply Company.[6][7] Starting with $50,000 in investor capital, its founders were T.J. McMaster, a former stationary engineer, and F.C. Davis, who had been a chief engineer in the U.S. Navy.[6][8] In 1904, an attorney with a background in mechanical engineering named Walter S. Carr purchased the company.[9] As early as 1908, the name of the company had been changed from McMaster-Davis to McMaster-Carr.[10][11]
Harry and James Channon, the sons of Henry Channon the founder of the H. Channon company, a large Chicago distributor of maritime and steam engine supplies, later purchased the company.[12]
Catalog
In 1908 the company printed and copyrighted its first catalog, at 506 pages in length.[13][11] It releases its current catalog annually.[14] The distinctive yellow print edition of the catalog is limited in distribution, sent primarily to established customers.[15]
Website
McMaster-Carr's website ranked third among e-commerce sites in a 2002 study performed at Stanford University about trust and credibility, just behind Amazon and Barnes & Noble.[16] The site intersperses design tips and explanations of material properties within product offerings.
Mobile phone app
The McMaster app was released in May 2013 for the iPad[17] and March 2014 for Android devices.
Awards
In 2015 McMaster-Carr was recognized by customers, in a survey by B2B business reviewer VendOp, as one of the top B2B vendors in the United States in multiple categories.[18]
^Fogg, B. J.; Soohoo, Cathy; Danielson, David; Marable, Leslie; Stanford, Julianne; Tauber, Ellen R. (November 11, 2002). "How Do People Evaluate a Web Site's Credibility?"(PDF). Archived from the original on June 13, 2010.
