Singer Factories - Anderson, S. Carolina, USA

In 1950 Singer built a new plant in Anderson, South Carolina for manufacturing a new range of slant-needle aluminium bodied sewing machines. Although the plant was officially opened in 1950, production did not start until 1951.

The original models produced at the Anderson plant were the 301/301A, 401A/403A and 500A/503A. With the exception of the first 2 years production of 301’s, machines built at Anderson were identified with an ‘A’ suffix on the model numbers. Serial numbers of machines built at Anderson in the 1950’s and 60’s started with the prefix NA, NB or NC. The parts for these machines were mostly manufactured at the Elizabethport factory and shipped to Anderson for assembly.

After the last 503A was made in 1963 the Anderson plant manufactured power tools and domestic products. After 1975 the ‘Athena’ electronic sewing machines were made at Anderson.

By the 1980’s when Singer ceased to make sewing machines in North America, the Anderson plant continued to manufacture power tools, until on 1st. July 1988 it was sold to Ryobi of Japan, who took over the Singer power tools business.

Model dates and serial numbers were:

Please note - the above serial numbers and dating details are provided courtesy of Ray at Singer301.com

The Singer301.com website has extremely comprehensive details about all of the early models made at the Anderson factory and so we would encourage you use the link above to visit that site to learn more about the features and the history of these fascinating models.