Rubbermaid

. .

.... . .

About

Name

• Rubbermaid

Manufacturing

• Plastics and Rubber Products

Facts

Founded

• 1920

Related

Key Persons

Founders

• James R. Caldwell

Key Persons

• Stanley C. Gault, 1993
• Don Noble, 1980
• Wolfgang Schmitt, 1999
• James R. Caldwell, 1959

Location

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• 1147 Akron Rd., Wooster, Ohio, United States

File:Rubbermaid-1964-Logo.jpg

Comprehensive history

In May 1920, five individuals pooled their resources to rent a building in Wooster and start The Wooster Rubber Company, manufacturing Sunshine Brand toy balloons. Six years later, Horatio Ebert and Errett Grable purchased the company as a personal investment, hiring Clyde Gault (one of the founders) to continue to manage the company for them. Though a new factory and office building were built soon after, the Depression led to plummeting sales. However, Ebert became interested in the rubber housewares products being sold in New England by James Caldwell under the name "Rubbermaid" and arranged to combine their businesses in July 1934.

Quick Facts

• 1920 -- Originally established as Wooster Rubber Company
• 1934 -- Introduced dustpans
• 1950 -- Began manufacturing products made from plastic and rubber
• 1955 -- Became a publicly traded company
• 1957 -- Changed name to Rubbermaid
• 1967 -- Divided into 2 divisions: Rubbermaid Home Products and Rubbermaid Commercial Products
• 1983 -- Named to Fortune 500
• 1984 -- Fortune 500's most admired company
• 1984 -- Acquired Little Tikes Company
• 1984 -- Restored Walnut Street School into the community Arts Center (later Wayne Center for the Arts)
• 1988 -- Named one of the best managed companies in America by Business Month
• 1989 -- Constructed United Way building for City of Wooster
• 1999 -- Newell Company purchased Rubbermaid
• 1999 -- Rubbermaid would change name to Newell Rubbermaid
• 2003 -- Newell Rubbermaid announced it would relocate from Wooster, Ohio to Atlanta, Georgia

Companies acquired by Rubbermaid

• 1965 -- Dupol - German
• 1981 -- Carlan
• 1984 -- Little Tikes - Later sold in 2006 by Newell Rubbermaid
• 1985 -- Gott corporation
• 1986 -- MicroComputer Accessories
• 1986 -- Seco Industries
• 1987 -- Viking Brush - Canadian
• 1987 -- Anchor Hocking - Later sold in 2001 by Newell Rubbermaid
• 1990 -- Eldon Industries; EWU AG
• 1992 -- Iron Mountain Forge Corporation
• 1994 -- Carax Health Care Products
• 1995 -- Injectaplastic S. A. - French
• 1996 -- Graco (baby products)
• 1997 -- Curver - Europe - Later sold in 2005 by Newell Rubbermaid

Gallery

Historical documents

• 

  Creating Success That Lasts - Remarks by Donald E. Noble at the 1996 Rubbermaid Management Conference

• 

  1995 Thermo Electron Talk to Management by Donald E. Noble in Minneapolis, Minnesota

• Wooster, Ohio Sesquicentennial Celebration, June 14-21, 1958, p. 48.