The founder of Argens Safe & Lock, Henry Argens, was born in Hamburg, Germany and immigrated to the United States in the mid-1850s. In 1880, Henry and his friend Louis Newman opened a gun and locksmith shop located on the east side of Commercial Street (now First Avenue South) near Washington Street. Henry Argens and Louis Newman went their separate ways in 1885 with Henry maintaining the gun and locksmith shop that was relocated to 117 Main Street. The shop was burned down to the ground in the fire of 1889, but Henry managed to save most of his equipment and continued on with his business. The fire actually created work for him; he was busy opening and recovering valuables from charred safes that were pulled from the ashes. By 1890, Henry had teamed up with Charles Schuck and was working out of a tent (due to the fire destroying the old building) at 2216 Jefferson Street. And by 1910, Henry Argens was again running Argens Safe & Lock located at 117 W. Main Street. Henry died in 1917, and his son, William (Bill), took over Argens Safe & Lock. In 1964, Bill turned operations over to his son, Robert, even though Bill continued working at the shop until 1978, when he died at the age of 82. In 1970, Argens Safe & Lock became incorporated, with Robert as president. In 1977, in search of larger quarters, we moved across the street to 84 S. Main Street where we are located today. Robert, due to his desire for more leisure time, turned the primary operations of the business over to the fourth generation, his son Jeff, in 1990. Robert passed away in March of 1992 leaving Jeff to continue running the family business. In 1997 Argens Safe & Lock changed its name to Argens Incorporated. Due to our increase in services, we felt we needed to change our name accordingly. Throughout our history we have endeavored to provide complete security solutions. With the rise of automatic entries and electronic entry systems, we felt we were no longer a simple safe and lock company. From its beginning is 1880 to the present day; Argens Incorporated has enjoyed a nationally recognized reputation for quality and service throughout the security industry.