Arrow Development

Arrow Development
IndustryAmusement Rides
Founded1945
FoundersKarl Bacon
Ed Morgan
Bill Hardiman
Angus Anderson
Defunct1981
FateSold to Huss Maschinenfabrik (1981)
SuccessorsArrow-Huss
Arrow Dynamics
S&S Power
HeadquartersMountain View, California, US
Key people
Angus Anderson
Karl Bacon
Bill Hardiman
Ed Morgan
Walter Schulze
Ron Toomer
ProductsRoller Coasters, Log Flumes, Auto Rides
Number of employees
270

Arrow Development was an amusement park ride and roller coaster design and manufacturing company, incorporated in California on November 16, 1945,[1] and based in Mountain View. It was founded by Angus "Andy" Anderson, Karl Bacon, William Hardiman and Edgar Morgan.[2]: 158 [3] Originally located at 243 Moffett Boulevard,[4] it moved to a larger facility at 1555 Plymouth Street[4] after Walt Disney Productions purchased one third of the business in 1960.[2]: 775 [5] Arrow also had offices at 820 Huff Avenue.

By 1956, then secretary Bill Hardiman[6] and Angus Anderson, then vice president,[7] had sold their interests in Arrow to Wharton graduate Walter Schulze, who then became Arrow's secretary-treasurer and vice president. Schulze and his wife had provided accounting services for several small companies in the Bay Area, including Duro-Bond Bearing, which is where he likely heard of Arrow. Schulze left Arrow after its sale to Rio Grande Industries.[8] In 1979, Arrow listed over a dozen types of rides in their catalog, including 15 corkscrews, five looping coasters, 12 runaway mine trains, 43 flume rides, and 77 automotive rides, for a total of more than 200 rides installed at nearly 100 locations around the world.

Huss Trading Corporation purchased Arrow Development in 1981, but the combined Arrow-Huss went bankrupt in 1984. The similarly named Arrow Dynamics, eventual successor to Arrow Development, was incorporated in Delaware on January 10, 1986 by Ron Toomer, Otis Hughes, David Klomp, Ray Crandall and Brent Meikle.[9]

  1. ^ "ARROW DEVELOPMENT CO". www.californiacompanieslist.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Reynolds, Robert (1999). Roller Coasters, Flumes and Flying Saucers. Northern Lights Pub. ISBN 9780965735353.
  3. ^ Tavenier, Eric; Moyer, Carolyn Anderson (October 2009). "The History of Arrow Development". Engineer.net. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Perry, Nick (July 26, 2002). "Arrow Development- A forgotten piece of Mountain View's past". Mountain View Voice. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  5. ^ Poison Quill (July 18, 2008). "Arrow Development, Disney and the Disneyland POTC Ride". Tales of the Seven Seas. Archived from the original on December 7, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  6. ^ R. L. Polk Santa Clara County CA Directory, 1949-50
  7. ^ R. L. Polk U.S. Cities Directory for Mountain View, CA 1954
  8. ^ "Obituary: Pauline Schultze". San Jose Mercury News. October 18, 1993.
  9. ^ State of Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code Database - Articles of Incorporation #131482