Found and Quoted from many Web Sources
"Johnson got it's start in 1949 when Lloyd Johnson and Henry Warren Denison built their first reel, the Johnson Sidewinder, in a basement in Mankato, Minnesota. Denison-Johnson, Inc., was formed shortly after and a patent for the Sidewinder was granted in July of 1953. From 1949 to 1954, Johnson's sidewinder reel would change 7 times with the main changes taking place in the drag system."