American Biltrite history

By 1910, two years after its founding, Ewell Rubber’s business was brisk enough to warrant the addition of a second manufacturing facility, known as Panther Rubber Mfg.

The expansion to Canada in 1913 was successful in conquering the local footwear industry.

Next, another manufacturing facility was established in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in 1917, adding a fourth facet to the company’s scope of operations as it neared the conclusion of its first decade of existence.

1923 The Panther Rubber Co. plant started manufacturing rubber flooring.

Production resumes at the Salem plant and continues until 1953.

American Biltrite became a publicly traded company, making its initial stock offering in April 1959 as it concluded its first 50 years of business and moved forward under the scrutiny of the public eye.

The expansion program of the early 1960s began in 1960 with the acquisition of National Shoe Products Corp., a distributor of shoe supplies to manufacturers.

Two new manufacturing plants began operation in 1962 as well, a shoe and heel facility in Ripley, Mississippi, and a pressure hose manufacturing facility in Hohenwald, Tennessee.

Still a leader in its field, Amtico Rubber Flooring’s product line was broadened in 1967 with the acquisition of Dalton, Georgia-based Noxon Mills, Inc., a manufacturer of various types of carpeting.

In 1982, the Marcus and Bernstein families, who each owned 37.5 percent of American Biltrite, signed a definitive agreement to divide into two separate corporations.

1985$1,000,000 invested to start manufacturing rubber cove base for the flooring market.

In 1994, American Biltrite’s tape products division recorded a 28 percent increase in sales, the largest in the division’s history.

With the additional challenge of sharply rising raw material costs, Congoleum fell into the red in 2000.