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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
In 1932, George E. Lewis, a former executive of the Carborundum Company, founded the Varcum Chemical Company. The Varcum plant is located on Packard Road in Niagara Falls, New York, and it is a manufacturer of raw phenolic resins used in the production of phenolic plastic. Phenolic plastic is utilized in a large percentage of all […]