After the recovery from prolonged illness in 1901 Henry E. Goodell, the man of "untiring energy and enterprise", found himself unwilling to rest on his laurels.

At the age of 54, he did achieve several goals in his life; he was a successful self-made businessman, with financial stability, and a recognition and respect of the Greenfield community.

All this was good, but there was more "fire in his belly" and it was not the time for him to retire.

In 1902 Henry E. took on another challenge and organized, together with his son-in-law Perley E. Fay, Goodell Manufacturing Company. 

It was incorporated in August, 1902 with a capital of $15,000 and an objective to manufacture hardware specialties.  William M. Pratt, by now at the helm of Goodell-Pratt Co., provided portion of initial capital in exchange for partial ownership of the company and distribution rights to their products.

In 1912 the Western New England magazine published a short profile of the company:

"The Goodell Manufacturing Company, whose plant is located on Shelburne Street, was established in 1903 for the manufacture of the Goodell Steel Mitre Box, and the Greenfield Drill Chuck. These tools are the inventions of Mr. Henry Goodell, who for many years was connected with the concern now known as the Goodell-Pratt Manufacturing Company. The output of the company has been sold extensively throughout the United States and a market has been established in Canada and several European countries.

This firm pursues a very liberal policy toward its employees with the result that it has had few changes in the personnel of its working force since its establishment."

Henry E. Goodell had specific ideas in mind when he started the company.  In August, 1903 he filed the patent application for a Miter Box.  The patent was issued on February 9, 1904 with No. 751,908 and was assigned to Goodell Manufacturing Co.

The Goodells were not strangers to miter boxes.  In 1879 Albert D. Goodell, Henry’s brother, helped with redesign and improvements in miter box working together with D. C. Rogers of Langdon Mitre Box Co.  The patent with No. 220,732 was assigned to Langdon Mitre Box Co. 

Sixteen years later, when already working in Shelburne Falls, he was called again to help.  In 1895 he designed additional modifications to the Langdon Miter Box, received patent No. 554,092 and assigned it to Millers Falls Co., at the time already an owner of the Langdon Mitre Box.

This time Henry E. designed his own miter box and in time began making two varieties: iron miter boxes and all steel miter boxes.  He marketed them as the Greenfield Miter Box and the Goodell Steel Miter Box.

Following a usual practice, Henry E. didn't wait for the patent award and began production as soon as design was completed.

One of the first reviews appeared in August, 1903 in Carpentry and Building magazine:

"The Goodell Miter Box

We take pleasure in presenting to the attention of our readers an illustrated description of a new miter box, which has just been placed upon the market by the Goodell Mfg. Company of Greenfield, Mass.

The box is made entirely of Bessemer steel, thus doing away with all liability of breakage, and the manufacturers claim that it is the first of its kind ever placed on the market. The backs are made of cold rolled steel, corrugated to a 1/4 inch in depth to 1/2 inch in width, thus allowing perfect clearance for sawdust. In addition to the angles found on regular boxes, it is possible to instantly set the Goodell miter box to any desired angle by simply turning a lever.

The construction is said to be such that the box gives 10-1/2 inches width at right angles and 7-1/4 inches at the miter. It is made in two sizes, both of which can be furnished with extra angle attachment to increase the angle above 45 degrees."