In early 1950, Frank Knight began sharpening lawn mower blades in the basement of his house on the Fairlea Farm in Orange. Frank's blade sharpening business not only became popular in Orange, but in most of New Haven County as well. Soon after, he began repairing lawn mowers at customer's requests. Due to his reputation as an excellent mechanic and an antique automobile enthusiast, Frank became known to everyone as a hard working, honest, and smart business man. Frank's business became so popular that he, and his wife Doris, decided that the house was no longer suitable, nor large enough, to handle daily business operations.

     In 1953, Frank and Doris Knight purchased a piece of property on the Boston Post Road in Orange and began the construction of a new building. Once completed in 1954, The Frank W. Knight Lawn Mower Repair Service opened its doors.

     The original building at this time, consisted of what is now our showroom. Mowers being repaired were stored in old chicken coups brought down from Grassy Hill Road.

     Over the years, Frank slowly purchased more land which surrounded his shop. He extended the building by adding the Knight-Floyd Insurance Company (now Georgina's Hair Salon). Shortly after, he built a storage building to replace the old chicken coups which were now too small to house all of the mowers.

     In the early 1960's, Frank and Doris decided to start selling new mowers as well as continuing to fix old ones. They began selling Toro walk mowers and soon took on the Wheel Horse lawn tractor line. They expanded the building in the back, creating a separate showroom and repair shop. The Frank W. Knight Lawn Mower Repair Service was now known as Knight's Lawn Mowers.

     Frank's son Fred began working at Knight's in the mid 1960's as a mechanic in his early teens. Frank's son John joined him in the late 1960's making Knight's a second generation family  business.

     The 1970's brought about many changes at Knight's. As business grew under the care of Frank, Doris, Fred, and John, the building was again becoming too small. Frank built a new storage area and extended the rear of the building, and a second floor was added. The old storage area became what is now Chapman's Bicycles.

     In the mid 1970's, Knight's became an incorporated company and officially renamed to Knight's Power Equipment, and then to Knight's Inc. During this time, Knight's began to sell commercial lawn equipment, beginning with the Locke reel mower.

     During the 1980's Knight's purchased two new trucks and incorporated pickups and deliveries into it's already outstanding service. Also added were new equipment lines such as Scag, Bobcat, and Echo to go along with our Stihl  and Toro and Wheel Horse.

     With the passing of Frank Knight in 1985, Fred and John humbly took over Knight's Inc. and continued its sales, service and reputation into the 21st century. With the addition of John's sons Greg in 1998 and Bryan in 2000, Knight's is proud to say that we are a 3rd generation family business that still offers the same knowledgeable, honest, and friendly service that Frank Knight started over 55 years ago.

Click on the picture below for a larger view.

This is a picture of a 1972 TORO Guardian

walk mower with the "Wind-Tunnel" housing.

Click on the picture below for a larger view.

Knight's Inc. 1979

Click on the picture below for a larger view.

Knight's Inc. 1988