Woodford Manufacturing celebrates 75 years in 2004. In 1929 J.C. Woodford bought a company and the manufacturing rights for the Iowa (Y34) yard hydrant to open a sole proprietorship that marked the beginning of the Woodford Hydrant Co. The company adopted its current name in 1946. By 1955 the company's product line had expanded into commercial wall hydrants. It introduced a residential faucet in 1963. The company acquired Watco Manufacturing Co. in 1986.

J.C. Woodford held more than 60 patents at the time of his death in 1979, many of them covering features of hydrants and faucets. Today the company holds patents on more than 200 inventions that have been or will be incorporated in its products.