3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company)

With its’ headquarters in Minnesota, 3M (also known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) was founded in 1901.  Originally founded as a mining company, it grew significantly over the years, and in 1916 purchased its first laboratory and began inventing new products.  The company grew exponentially after World War II, and as a result […]

Read More

Durez Plastics

Durez Plastics Corporation in North Tonawanda, New York, will always be remembered by the community surrounding it for its role in exposing workers, and their families alike, to asbestos dust. Despite the tragedy surrounding the plant and many deaths among its workers caused by asbestos exposure, Durez was once an important employer and vital part […]

Read More

Akron Porcelain and Plastics Company

Akron Porcelain and Plastics Company was originally established as Akron Pottery by Edwin H. Merrill and Henry E. Merrill in 1861 at South Main and State Streets in Akron, Ohio. The company was incorporated in 1887, and it manufactured stoneware products. By 1880, Akron pottery began to diversify because traditional pottery and stoneware experienced a […]

Read More

Garfield Molding Co., Inc.

GARFIELD MOLDING COMPANY was established in 1908, and was located at 10 Midland Avenue in Wallington, New Jersey. Garfield was a Manufacturing plant that made different types of plastic molded products for various industries. During the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s, some of the molding compounds that Garfield used to make their plastic molded products contained […]

Read More

Great Lakes Plastics Co., Inc.

GREAT LAKES PLASTIC COMPANY was founded in 1946, and was located in Buffalo, New York. Great Lakes was a Manufacturing plant that made different types of plastic molded products for various industries. During the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s, some of the molding compounds that Great Lakes used to make their plastic molded products contained asbestos. […]

Read More

Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corp.

KERR GLASS MANUFACTURING Company was a prominent Manufacturing plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania that made and sold different types of plastic molded products for various industries. During the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s, some of the molding compounds that Kerr Glass used to make their plastic molded products contained asbestos. The companies that manufactured and supplied asbestos […]

Read More

Chicago Molded Products Corp.

CHICAGO MOLDED PRODUCTS CORP. was founded in 1919, and was located in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago Molded Products Corp. was a Manufacturing plant that made different types of plastic molded products for various industries. During the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s, some of the molding compounds that Chicago Molded Products Corp. used to make their plastic molded […]

Read More

Monroe Plastics

Monroe Plastics was founded in March 1970, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Molded Products Corp. The Monroe Plastics plant was located in the Albia Industrial Park on Highway 5 South in Albia, Iowa. When the plant opened, its building was roughly 13,600 square feet and contained five compression mold presses connected to a […]

Read More

General Electric Brockport Housewares Division

General Electric constructed a plant in Brockport, New York, in 1948 in order to manufacture plastic component parts for some of its small household appliances. The plant was located on State Street in Brockport and sat on 28.6 acres of land. Workers manufactured plastic parts for retail housewares, such as all-purpose food mixers, blenders, electric […]

Read More

Ferree Plastics

Ferree Plastics was established in 1960 in Lockport, New York. The Ferree family purchased Sterling Molders Inc. and its plant on Van Burren Street after a massive fire nearly destroyed the building. Ferree Plastics acquired former Sterling Molders Inc. clients and continued to manufacture molded plastic parts for automobiles, electronics, small household appliances and personal […]

Read More

Plenco

In 1934, the American Molded Products Company was founded by Frank G. Brotz in Chicago, Illinois, as a manufacturer of phenolic plastic molding compounds. A few months after the company was established, it moved to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and it was renamed Plastics Engineering Company (Plenco). During its early years, Plenco molded products using molding compounds […]

Read More

Reichhold Chemicals

In 1927, German immigrant Henry Reichhold founded Beck, Koller & Company US in Detroit, Michigan, in order to import resins and paint from his family’s company in Vienna, Austria. Most of the resins and paints were sold to the Ford Motor Company. During the 1930s, the company began producing chemicals domestically, and it acquired several […]

Read More

Rogers Corporation

Rogers Corporation was founded in 1832 in Manchester, Connecticut, by Peter Rogers as the Rogers Paper Manufacturing Company. Over the next century, the company produced several different types of paper for industrial use. In 1932 and during the Great Depression, the Rogers Company partnered with Dr. Leo Baekeland, who invented phenolic plastic molding compounds and […]

Read More

Durez Plastics – Kenton, Ohio Plant

Durez Plastics (originally named General Plastics) was established in 1921 by Harry M. Dent in North Tonawanda, New York. Durez was a chemical and plastics factory that manufactured plastic molding compound, which it then sold to other manufacturing facilities. These facilities used the plastic molding compound supplied by Durez to make a wide variety of […]

Read More

Fiberite Corporation

In 1947, Benjamin and Rudolph Miller established Fiberite Corporation in Winona, Minnesota. In its earliest years, Fiberite manufactured plastic molding compounds and molded plastic products, including gun stocks, telephones and food service equipment. Beginning in the 1950s, the company’s product line was focused on the aerospace, military and food service industries. Among the notable projects […]

Read More