Houghton Manufacturing Company was founded in 1948 by Howard R. Houghton as a job machining/welding shop. In the early 1950's he entered the field of material testing equipment by designing a centrifuge for use in the testing of asphalt. It was an immediate success and is still considered a standard in the field today. The business grew rapidly as Mr. Houghton continued to design, produce and market additional instruments and devices that would be used in the testing of concrete, asphalt and aggregates.

In the 1980's, the company began a program of converting its major metal working and machining equipment to CNC computerized control, resulting in a marked improvement in efficiency, speed, cost reduction and close tolerance accuracy.

Today, the company continues to be recognized as an established manufacturer of products used in the civil engineering field, but has expanded its market to include the production of component parts and sub-assemblies involving machining, welding, metal forming, painting and other operations to a variety of local, as well as nationwide customers.