Based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, AWI has a global manufacturing network of 26 facilities, including nine plants dedicated to its WAVE joint venture.

The Armstrong World Industries, Inc. Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust in 2006 held approximately 66% of AWI's outstanding common shares.

[9] In 1860, Thomas M. Armstrong, the son of Scottish-Irish immigrants from Derry, joined with John D. Glass to open a one-room shop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, carving bottle stoppers from cork by hand.

In 1906, two years before he died, Thomas Armstrong concluded that the solid foundation of the future was covered with linoleum, and construction began on a new factory in a cornfield at the edge of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

In 1917, Armstrong Cork signed with the Batton Company advertising agency, a relationship that continues to this day through their corporate descendants.

In 1938, Armstrong bought Whitall Tatum, which had been one of the larger manufacturers of glass insulators for communications and power lines since entering that field in 1922.

During World War II, Armstrong made 50-caliber round ammunition, wing tips for airplanes, cork sound insulation for submarines, and camouflage.

In 1969, this business was sold in a leveraged buyout to 31 existing and retired employees of the contracting company, which became Irex Corporation.

[5] The Armstrong World Industries, Inc. Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust in 2006 held approximately 66% of AWI's outstanding common shares.

Armstrong's “Fourth Amended Plan of Reorganization, as Modified,” dated February 21, 2006 and confirmed by U.S. District Court Judge Eduardo Robreno in August 2006,[6] become effective October 2, 2006.

“We made substantial improvements in our cost structure by closing several plants and streamlining our workforce in the U.S. We have also expanded capacity to manufacture wood flooring, broadened our product lines and improved product quality and customer service.” On February 15, 2007, Armstrong World Industries, Inc. announced that it was initiating a review of its strategic alternatives.

The oldest part of Armstrong Manor, originally known as Bloomington Farm, was built in 1866 by David P. Locher, a prosperous local tanner, banker, and farmer.

[23] The company's second president, Charles D. Armstrong, was disturbed by the conditions in which his son, Dwight, and other new sales employees were living within various rented housing across Lancaster.

[23] The house was used as a living space for the sales trainees (all single men) during their 6-month training program at the Lancaster flooring plant.

[23] More recently, The Manor provided housing for visiting Armstrong employees and customers, and continued to fulfill its role as a meeting space.

[27][28] Armstrong Holdings Inc. used to produce asbestos, either of two incombustible, chemical-resistant, fibrous mineral forms of impure magnesium silicate, used for fireproofing, electrical insulation, building materials, brake linings, and chemical filters.

[29] On November 16, 2000 it was reported that Armstrong Holdings Inc. was facing about 173,000 asbestos personal injury claims that would cost between $758.8 million and $1.36 billion through 2006.

WAVE (Worthington Armstrong VEntures) has plants in Benton Harbor, Michigan; Henderson, Nevada; Aberdeen, Maryland; Shanghai, China; Prouvy, France; Team Valley, England, and Madrid, Spain.