What’s In A Name: Wind Point Partners

Wind Point Partners is based in the bustling city of Chicago, but to find the origins of its name, one would have to head 65 miles north, outside of Illinois. Racine, Wisconsin is the home of the S.C. Johnson & Son company and Johnson Family Enterprises. The company began in 1886 when Samuel C. Johnson Jr. purchased a local wax company and founded S.C. Johnson Wax, which provided wax and floor coverings. The company expanded greatly through acquisitions and, in addition to wax and floor coverings, has grown to include hundreds of household products such as Spray & Wash stain remover, Windex glass cleaner and Ziploc baggies.

Wind Point Partners, meanwhile, invests in mid-market companies in the business services, consumer products, healthcare and industrial products sectors. The firm began life as an investment group for the Johnson family. While it is now independent of Johnson Family Enterprises, its name reflects its origins with the Johnson family by taking the name of the Johnson family’s original village, Wind Point, in Racine County, Wisconsin.

The village of Wind Point, Wisconsin is in the Southeastern part of the state, approximately 25 miles south of Milwaukee. Its population pales in comparison to Chicago and Milwaukee, although it is home to some significant history.

Chief among the village’s features is the Wind Point lighthouse, a historic lighthouse that sits on the Southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. Completed in 1880, the lighthouse is one of the oldest on the Great Lakes. It is also one of the tallest in the region, standing 108 feet tall. The lighthouse was recognized by the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

This lighthouse serves as the Wind Point Partners logo, and is pictured on the firm’s Website and rendered in close detail on the firm’s stationery. It is an apt logo, since like the Lighthouse, the firm has ambitions to withstand and guide investors through great periods of change, and serve as a beacon of stability during stormy times.

The United States Coast Guard still operates the Wind Point lighthouse to help ships traveling Lake Michigan.