During the age of the industrial revolution, Henschel became a name in locomotive manufacturing as well in steam boilers, machines and casted products. With its social commitment such as vocational schools, health insurance or company sponsored housing, the company was a pioneer in its time. Early Henschels had cast guns, and made clocks and manual fire engines.
In 1810, Georg Christian Carl Henschel set up the business in Kassel now known as the “Mercedes-Benz Kassel plant”. Carl Anton Henschel (23 April 1780, 19 May 1861) was senior mining and founder of the Maschinenfabrik Henschel & Sohn in Kassel in 1817. Anton Henschel was the eldest of ten siblings, born on 23 April 1780 in Kassel. He worked in the workshops of his father’s practice, then drove in the self-study, supported by private instruction. From 1817 dated the company Henschel & Son as a machine factory, rather than the previously predominant foundry operation.