Heddon

Heddon is a brand of artificial fishing lures created by James Heddon, (originally a beekeeper) who is credited with the invention of the first artificial fishing lures made of wood in the late 1890s.

The Heddon Company was founded in 1902 to sell the lures, originally made by hand in the Heddon family kitchen in Dowagiac, Michigan. By 1910 they had a sales distributor in Canada and a new factory in Dowagiac. By 1950 the Heddon brand name was well known and they were producing over 12,000 lures a day. In their growth years, the company also made rods, reels and other peripheral fishing gear.