Firestone-Apsley Rubber Company: Difference between revisions
Hportfacts5 (talk | contribs) added short description, and minor grammar, concision, and orthographic edits |
Hportfacts5 (talk | contribs) removed Japanese company stub - there is no documented connection that I could find of Firestone-Apsley, Hudson Lock, or any of its parent companies to Japan or Japanese companies. They only reason I can imagine for someone having placed this here is that a former parent company of Hudson Lock was called ESP. There is a Japanese entertainment software company called ESP, but it is not the same as Hudson Lock's former parent. |
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Revision as of 13:57, 22 June 2020
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (September 2017) |
 The Apsley Rubber Company in 1911 | |
| Industry | Rubber |
|---|---|
| Predecessors | Apsley Rubber Company Goodyear Gossamer Company |
| Founded | 1885 in Hudson, Massachusetts, United States |
| Founders | Lewis Dewart Apsley, J. H. Coffin |
| Defunct | 1930s |
| Fate | Folded during the Great Depression |
| Parent | Firestone Tire and Rubber Company |
The Firestone-Apsley Rubber Company was the successor of the Apsley Rubber Company and Goodyear Gossamer Company, and was located in Hudson, Massachusetts. It operated in its various guises from 1885 to the 1930s. Today the Firestone-Apsley factory building is owned by Hudson Lock, LLC.
History
The Goodyear Gossamer Company was founded in 1885 in Hudson by United States congressman and businessman Lewis Dewart Apsley and his partner J. H. Coffin of Boston. This company produced rubber or "gossamer" clothing. Within five years, Goodyear Gossamer Company became the largest producer of gossamer garments in the nation.
In 1892 Apsley purchased Coffin's share of Goodyear Gossamer and reincorporated it as the Apsley Rubber Company. This company produced rubber clothing and footwear. The plant employed between 1200 and 2000 people during its existence, more than half of all of those employed in Hudson at the time.
Apsley sold the brick plant to the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company when he approached retirement. The plant was renamed the Firestone-Apsley Rubber Company and started producing tires. A new brick smokestack with the word "FIRESTONE" spelled out on it in white-painted bricks was built by the Firestone Company. The factory helped attract immigrants from all over Europe to Hudson. In 1928 at least 19 different languages were spoken by Firestone-Apsley workers. The factory folded in the 1930s during the Great Depression.
As of 2020 the Firestone-Apsley Rubber Company factory building still exists, though the company itself is long gone. Since 1963 the plant has housed Hudson Lock, LLC, which produces keys, locks, locksmithing tools, and related goods. The Firestone smokestack is no longer used but is also still standing. It is quite possibly the tallest structure in the town of Hudson. However, sometime in 2017 the smokestack was damaged — or perhaps intentionally lowered for safety reasons — such that it now reads "IRESTONE."
References
- The Hudson Historical Society. (1976). Hudson Bicentennial Scrapbook. Private publication.