Tension history

Established in 1886 by William Berkowitz, the Company specialized in popular advertising novelties and business stationery.

In 1894, the company brought the first envelope-folding machine as far west as Kansas City.

And in about 1896, the envelope business had grown so rapidly that Berkowitz & Company gradually withdrew from the general printing business to concentrate on the production of envelopes.

By 1901, the company focused solely on manufacturing envelopes and changed its name to Berkowitz Envelope Company.

The Company’s first envelope patent was issued in 1909.

In 1914, the Berkley family, founders and owners of Tension, leased the 5th floor of the building, as Tension was growing out of its facility at what is now 20th and Tracy in Kansas City, Mo.

The Company began expanding in 1924 with the addition of a manufacturing facility and sales office in Des Moines, Iowa.

In 1930, Kansas City Power & Light purchased the building from Montgomery Ward.

In 1937, Berkowitz Envelope acquired the assets and patents of Tension Envelope.

In 1944, the company’s plant and sales organizations were united under the well-known Tension name as Tension Envelope Corporation.

Shortly thereafter, the United Nations recognizes the People’s Republic of China, endowing it with the permanent Security Council seat that had been held by Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China on Taiwan since 1945.

Since 1949, United States-China relations have evolved from tense standoffs to a complex mix of intensifying diplomacy, growing international rivalry, and increasingly intertwined economies.

As many as four million people die in the three-year conflict until the United Nations, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement in 1953 [PDF].

KCP&L remained in the building until selling it to Tension in 1959.

Article about Bert Berkley, president of Tension Envelope corporation in Kansas City since 1962, describing his career and the history of the company at 819 East 19th Street, started by his father, E. Bertram Berkowitz as Berkowitz Envelope, bought by Tension Envelope of New Jersey.

China joins the nuclear club in October 1964 when it conducts its first test of an atomic bomb.

In the first public sign of warming relations between Washington and Beijing, China’s ping-pong team invites members of the United States team to China on April 6, 1971.

President Richard Nixon spends eight days in China in February 1972, during which he meets Chairman Mao and signs the Shanghai Communiqué with Premier Zhou Enlai.

The Reagan administration then signs in August 1982 a third joint communiqué with the People’s Republic of China to normalize relations.

President Reagan visits China in April 1984 and in June, the United States government permits Beijing to make purchases of United States military equipment.

In 1988, Bill Berkley, great-grandson of the founder, became President and CEO. Bert Berkley continued as chairman of the board.

In the spring of 1989, thousands of students hold demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, demanding democratic reforms and an end to corruption.

Yugoslav republics began declaring their independence in 1990.

The designation, applied to China for the first time since 1994, is mainly symbolic, but it comes less than a week after Trump announced higher tariffs on $300 billion worth of goods.

The Nationalist Party’s Lee Teng-hui wins Taiwan’s first free presidential elections by a large margin in March 1996, despite Chinese missile tests meant to sway Taiwanese voters against voting for the pro-independence candidate.

In 2000, Tension expanded into the packaging and pharmacy automation market.

After North Korea conducts its first nuclear test in October 2006, China serves as a mediator to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.

In March 2007, China announces an 18 percent budget increase in defense spending for 2007, totaling more than $45 billion.

In September 2008, China surpasses Japan to become the largest holder of United States debt—or treasuries—at around $600 billion.

China surpasses Japan as the world’s second-largest economy after it is valued at $1.33 trillion for the second quarter of 2010, slightly above Japan’s $1.28 trillion for that year.

The increase accounts for three-quarters of the growth in the United States trade deficit for 2011.

On the sidelines of the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, President Obama and President Xi issue a joint statement on climate change, pledging to reduce carbon emissions.