Steelville Manufacturing Co

A Look At Steelville Manufacturing Co. And Our Community

Founded 1959

Steelville Manufacturing began its life as Erma’s Firearms Manufacturing Co. Founded in 1959, Erma’s was named after the wife of founding partner Harold Tucker. Harold brought with him his wealth of manufacturing experience, while his counterpart, Arthur Pursley, brought the sales contacts and experience he had amassed in the purchase and sales of surplus equipment from WWII.Erma’s focused on making receivers and barrels for the M1 carbine rifle, employing as many as 24 people at the height of its business.

They first set up shop in a shed behind Hudson’s Department Store (now Lange’s General Store on Main Street). As they grew, they began to look for a larger space to operate.Steelville Enterprise, Inc., a local business consortium, had just built a new structure on the site of old High School, hoping to bring new manufacturing opportunities to Steelville. A two-story cinderblock building on the top of a terraced hillside in town, this location seemed perfect for Erma’s to make its new home.