DeWalt Industrial Tool Company was started in 1923 by Raymond E. DeWalt, inventor of the radial arm saw. It grew quickly and was reorganized and reincorporated in 1947 as DeWalt Inc. American Machine & Foundry Co., Inc. bought the company in 1949, and sold it to Black & Decker in 1960. Black & Decker divested itself of the radial arm saw manufacturing branch in 1989, selling it to two executives.
In 1992, Black & Decker began a major effort to rebrand its professional quality and high-end power tools to DeWalt. In 1994, DeWalt took over the German woodworking power tool producer ELU, and used ELU's technology to expand their tool line. As of 2001, they manufacture and sell more than 200 hand power tools and 800 accessories.
In December 2013, DeWalt announced it would begin assembling a small selection of their products in the United States, using parts manufactured in Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the U.S., and that these products would be labeled "Built in the USA with global materials." They have U.S. manufacturing facilities in New Britain, CT, Hampstead, MD, Shelbyville, KY, Greenfield, IN, Cheraw, SC, Charlotte, NC, and Jackson, TN. But they do not produce vacuums in the United States.
DeWALT brand 120-volt vacuums are manufactured by Alton Industry (which is a US subsidiary of Suzhou Alton Electrical & Mechanical Industry company in Jiangsu, China), which licenses the DeWALT brand name for vacuums.
DeWALT brand smaller battery-powered vacuums are actually manufactured by the DeWALT company in China. The DeWALT company itself is now a subsidiary of Stanley Black & Decker.