Founded in 1904 by current Shankco HMFIC Larry Shankman's Great-Great-Grandfather Ulysses Lawrence Shankman in the small town of Sharpsville, Pennsylvania. It soon became clear that  there were a lot of openings in the field which Shankco found itself engaged, and U.L. set out to fill each of those holes personally. Ulysses died of syphillis in 1908, but his son Silas carried the torch that his father lit until 1922, when he, too died of syphillis. Current HMFIC Larry took the helm in 1992, after his father, who had pioneered the "unnaturally large butt plug" passed from what was suspected to be AIDS.