Just as Henry Ford’s horseless carriage changed the way the world moved, a young man named C.G. Johnson invented the garage door in 1921 and changed the course of the garage door’s place in history. Johnson traveled across the United States with a small prototype of the door mounted on the back of his Model T, promoting his new innovation at county fairs and in countless small towns. He was ahead of his time by using marketing and sales tactics such as customer coupons and sales outlet bulletins to communicate the news about this innovative product and create a call-to-action for consumers. He established a network of distributors and soon his invention of the “overhead door” gained widespread popularity. In 1926, Johnson invented the first electric door opener. His inventions created the foundation for C.G. Johnson’s well-respected enterprise that would become known as the Overhead Door Corporation.
Today the Overhead Door Corporation, based in Dallas, Texas, is recognized as a leading single source manufacturer of integrated door and operator systems for commercial, industrial and residential applications. The company’s comprehensive product line encompasses residential garage doors and openers, commercial operators, sectional doors and rolling service doors for commercial and industrial applications; high-speed traffic doors; security grilles and closures for a variety of retail and commercial uses.
In total, Overhead Door Corporation and its operating divisions provide the most extensive selection of door systems and related products backed by the leading brand names in North America.
Since the 1996 acquisition by Sanwa Holdings Corporation of Tokyo – a leading supplier of building products in the Pacific Rim – the combined entity is among the world’s leading suppliers of building products with an established and growing presence in 50 countries on five continents.
