Honeywell Technologies
Company History
Honeywell History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones
Founded 1906 in Wabash, Indiana, United States
When was Honeywell founded?
Honeywell was founded in 1906 in Wabash, Indiana, United States by Albert Butz and Mark C. Honeywell, making it 120 years old.
- Founded
- 1906
- Founding place
- Wabash, Indiana, United States
- Founders
- Albert Butz and Mark C. Honeywell
- Headquarters today
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Milestones documented
- 12 (1885–2026)
- Current CEO
- Vimal Kapur
- Acquisitions
- 8
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1885 | Albert Butz Patents the Damper Flapper Thermostat |
| 1906 | Honeywell Heating Specialty Company Founded |
| 1927 | Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company Formed |
| 1999 | AlliedSignal and Honeywell Combine |
| 2001 | General Electric Merger Blocked |
| 2015 | Elster Acquired |
| 2018 | Honeywell Forge Launched |
| 2025 | Three-Way Breakup Announced |
| 2025 | Advanced Materials Separated as Solstice |
| 2026 | Honeywell Aerospace Spin-Off Completed |
| 2026 | Quantinuum IPO |
| 2026 | Warehouse and PSS Businesses Sold |
- Where was Honeywell founded?
- Honeywell was founded in Wabash, Indiana, United States in 1906. en.wikipedia.org
- Who founded Honeywell?
- Honeywell was founded by Albert Butz and Mark C. Honeywell.
- When did Honeywell start?
- Honeywell was founded in 1906.
- How old is Honeywell?
- Honeywell is 120 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
In 1885, Albert Butz patented the 'damper flapper', a device that opened and closed a coal furnace's damper automatically as room temperature changed, and formed a company to sell it. Separately, Mark C. Honeywell founded Honeywell Heating Specialty Company in Wabash, Indiana, in 1906. The two lineages merged in 1927 as Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company, which is why the modern company traces its automation roots to a thermostat.
Founders
Albert Butz
Albert Butz was a Swiss-born American inventor whose work is the origin of Honeywell. In 1885 he patented the 'damper flapper', an early automatic thermostat mechanism for controlling indoor temperature. He founded the Butz Thermo-Electric Regulator Company to sell it. His patents and that early business were the starting point of the automated controls company that later became Honeywell. Albert Butz was born in 1849 in Switzerland. Butz was born in Switzerland in 1849 and died in 1905. His Butz Thermo-electric Regulator Company became Honeywell through a series of reorganisations, name changes and mergers.
Mark C. Honeywell
Mark C. Honeywell was an American industrialist who gave the company its name. He was a heating contractor, and in 1906 he founded the Honeywell Heating Specialty Company to make hot water heat generators. In 1927 he merged it with the Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company, the successor to Albert Butz's original firm. He led the combined Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company, which grew through acquisitions into aerospace, building technologies and industrial automation. Mark C. Honeywell was born in 1874 in Florida. Education: Eastman Business College.
Key Milestones
Albert Butz Patents the Damper Flapper Thermostat
Albert Butz files his first automatic temperature-control patent and forms the Butz Thermo-Electric Regulator Company, creating the thermostat as a mass-market product for home furnaces.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHoneywell Heating Specialty Company Founded
Mark C. Honeywell founds a heating-equipment business in Wabash, Indiana, that will later merge into the Honeywell name.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMinneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company Formed
Mark Honeywell's heating business merges with the Electric Heat Regulator Company -- the descendant of Butz's original thermostat patents -- forming the direct ancestor of modern Honeywell, with W.R. Sweatt as chairman and Honeywell as president.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAlliedSignal and Honeywell Combine
AlliedSignal acquires Honeywell in a roughly $15 billion stock deal and keeps the Honeywell name for the combined aerospace, materials, and controls conglomerate.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgGeneral Electric Merger Blocked
The European Commission blocked General Electric's planned $42 billion purchase of Honeywell in July 2001.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgElster Acquired
Honeywell bought the metering business Elster from Melrose Industries in 2015 for about $5.1 billion.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHoneywell Forge Launched
then-CEO Darius Adamczyk launches Honeywell Connected Enterprise, which becomes Honeywell Forge, a cloud-based industrial IoT platform positioned as the company's top strategic priority for shifting toward recurring software revenue.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThree-Way Breakup Announced
CEO Vimal Kapur announces a plan to split Honeywell into three independent public companies -- Aerospace, Solstice Advanced Materials, and automation-focused Honeywell Technologies -- following pressure from activist investor Elliott Management.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAdvanced Materials Separated as Solstice
Honeywell completes the spin-off of its Advanced Materials business as the independent, Nasdaq-listed Solstice Advanced Materials on October 30, 2025.
Source: sec.govHoneywell Aerospace Spin-Off Completed
Honeywell completes the Aerospace spin-off in June 2026, and the parent begins operating as the pure-play automation company Honeywell Technologies.
Source: investor.honeywell.comQuantinuum IPO
Quantinuum lists on Nasdaq as QNT, raising $1.68 billion at $60 per share; Honeywell deconsolidates it in Q2 2026.
Source: quantinuum.comWarehouse and PSS Businesses Sold
Honeywell Technologies sells Warehouse and Workflow Solutions (Intelligrated) to American Industrial Partners in July and PSS to Brady for $1.4 billion in August 2026.
Source: honeywell.comMajor Acquisitions
AlliedSignal and Honeywell merger
1999AlliedSignal, an aerospace and chemicals conglomerate, acquired the smaller Honeywell in a roughly $15 billion stock deal and controversially chose to retain the more recognizable Honeywell name for the combined company.
Pittway Corporation
2000Honeywell acquired Pittway for $2.2 billion to gain a larger share of the fire-protection and security-systems market.
Intermec
2013Honeywell acquired supply-chain technology provider Intermec, adding mobile computing, RFID, and barcode/label-printing systems.
Elster
2015Honeywell acquired gas, electricity, and water meter maker Elster for $5.1 billion, entering the smart-metering business.
Advanced Materials separation
2025Rather than an acquisition, Honeywell spun off its Advanced Materials business -- refrigerants, building solutions, and specialty chemicals -- as the independent, Nasdaq-listed company Solstice Advanced Materials on October 30, 2025, giving existing Honeywell shareholders one Solstice share for every four Honeywell shares held.
Honeywell Aerospace spin-off
2026Honeywell completed the second step of its three-way breakup, separating Honeywell Aerospace Technologies into an independent, separately Nasdaq-listed company in June 2026.
Access Solutions (Carrier Global)
2024Added LenelS2, Onity, and Supra access-control and security brands to Building Automation.
Hand Held Products
2007Honeywell Technologies acquired Hand Held Products in 2007.
Keep researching Honeywell
Honeywell Company History FAQ
What was the historical foundation of Honeywell in 1885?
Honeywell's history began in 1885 when Albert Butz patented the damper flapper thermostat in Minneapolis, forming the Butz Thermo-Electric Regulator Co., which subsequently evolved into the Electric Heat Regulator Company under W.R. Sweatt.
When did Minneapolis-Honeywell merge and expand into military aviation during World War II?
Following the 1927 merger of Electric Heat Regulator Co. and Honeywell Heating Specialty Co. to form Minneapolis-Honeywell, the company played a key role in World War II, mass-producing precision autopilot systems (C-1 autopilot), aircraft periscopes, and turbocharger regulators for Allied military aircraft.
What role did Honeywell play in the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969?
Honeywell provided mission-critical guidance, navigation, and control systems for the Apollo 11 lunar mission in 1969, including the stabilization and control system on the Apollo Command Module that enabled Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to navigate successfully to and from the moon.
When did Honeywell officially adopt the name Honeywell Inc.?
In 1963, the company officially simplified its corporate name from Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company to Honeywell Inc., reflecting its broader diversification beyond heating regulators into aerospace avionics, industrial sensors, and computer data processing.
How did the 1999 merger with AlliedSignal reshape the modern Honeywell corporation?
In 1999, AlliedSignal acquired Honeywell Inc. in a $14 billion merger of equals, creating a large industrial technology conglomerate combining AlliedSignal's aerospace turbine engines and specialty chemicals with Honeywell's high-quality avionics and automated building control systems.
When did Honeywell spin off Resideo Technologies and Garrett Motion?
In late 2018, Honeywell executed the tax-free spin-offs of its residential smart-home and security distribution business (Resideo Technologies, Inc.) and its automotive turbocharger business (Garrett Motion Inc.), focusing Honeywell on high-growth, high-margin B2B software and industrial technologies.
When did Honeywell relocate its global headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina?
In 2019, Honeywell completed the relocation of its global corporate headquarters from Morris Plains, New Jersey, to a state-of-the-art urban tower in Charlotte, North Carolina, enhancing access to major aviation hubs and top-tier technological engineering talent.
What major corporate transformations define Honeywell today through 2024?
Through 2024, Honeywell simplified its portfolio into four megatrend-aligned businesses (Aerospace Technologies, Building Automation, Industrial Automation, and Energy & Sustainability Solutions), deployed the Honeywell Accelerator system, completed multi-billion-dollar security and defense acquisitions, and scaled Quantinuum quantum computing.
How did Honeywell start?
Honeywell traces its massive roots to 1906 when Mark Honeywell formed the Honeywell Heating Specialty Co. in Indiana, perfecting the modern thermostat. However, the modern corporate entity is incredibly complex. In 1999, the massive aerospace conglomerate AlliedSignal bought Honeywell, but brilliantly decided to keep the "Honeywell" name because of its massive brand recognition with consumers.
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