United States Rubber Company

It was one of the original 12 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average,[2] and became Uniroyal, Inc., as part of creating a unified brand for its products and subsidiaries in 1961.

The company was founded in 1916 by Raymond B. Gillette and its primary manufacturing plant was located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

The Gillette plant held large contracts with the General Motors Corporation and with the addition of U.S. Rubber products, became one of the world's largest suppliers of original equipment tires.

[6] In 1940, U.S. Rubber purchased the remainder of the Gillette Safety Tire Company, and began to expand and modernize the Eau Claire factory, greatly increasing production.

It produced footwear under a variety of brand names, coated upholstery fabrics, mechanical parts, industrial chemicals and vehicle tires.

[14](TYO: 5108) A joint venture, Isochem, Inc., was established in June 1965 together with Martin Marietta Corporation and chaired by the Martin's vice president Malcolm A. MacIntyre to operate Hanford nuclear site under the auspices of AEC, thus assuming duties, previously performed by the General Electric Co.[15][16] In 1961, the company became Uniroyal, Inc.[5] The Uniroyal name was applied to all its operating components and products by 1967, creating a unified brand.

The class action lawsuit was settled in favor of the plaintiffs, but the issue of attorney fees was decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 1982.

In 1985, Uniroyal was taken private by its management and the New York investment firm of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice to prevent a hostile takeover by financier Carl C. Icahn.

[20] In 1987, its first full year of operation, the new Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company generated almost US$2 billion in sales revenue, with profit of about US$35 million.

[23] The Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company offered the debt securities in two parts through underwriters led by Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.

[27] Also in 1991, the Uniroyal tiger returned to national television after a 10-year hiatus, featured in a new 30-second spot created by Wyse Advertising of Cleveland, Ohio.

[28] By 1993, Michelin North America employed 28,000 people at 18 plants, in South Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma, Indiana, Nova Scotia and Ontario.

In mid-1993, Michelin North America cut 2,500 of those jobs, which represented about 9% of its work force in the United States and Canada, because of softening demand for tires.

Comprising contract negotiation and grievance case files, meeting minutes, memos, correspondence, photos and audio visual material, the records document numerous activities including: the collective bargaining activities of Local 19 of the United Rubber Workers of America, the impact on plant operations by the introduction of synthetic rubber production, and work modernization after World War II.

[30] The Department is also home to the Uniroyal Collection,[31] which includes news clippings and photos, and well as the United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum, and Plastic Workers of America.

Local 19: Records, which reflect the work of the labour union that represented the employees at the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company's Eau Claire plant.

[32] Records and photographs pertaining to the Rubber Machinery Shops of the Dominion Tire Co. Ltd, in Kitchener, Ontario are housed in Special Collections & Archives at the University of Waterloo Library.

Included are photographs, newsletters, equipment lists, press releases and news clippings regarding employees and company operations.

[33] United States Rubber Company records at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School.

Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Company & Downtown Naugatuck (c. 1890)
1922 US Tire newspaper ad.
U.S. Rubber Headquarters constructed at 1790 Broadway in 1912
Uniroyal plant in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec , built in 1911–1930
The Saint-Jérôme facility during demolition in 1994
Uniroyal Mexican Truck Tire
The former BFGoodrich smoke stacks at the old tire plant, and headquarters in Akron, Ohio