Eight Decades of Rubbermaid in Wooster

By Shannon Dade, revised by Glenna Van Dyke

The company today known as Rubbermaid started out as Wooster Rubber Company in 1920. Over the course of their time in Wooster, they would change names and transform from a small balloon manufacturer to a nationally recognized household name.  

An aerial photo of the Rubbermaid headquarters, which is an extremely large cement block building with a parking lot in the front.
Rubbermaid’s headquarters and plastics department in Wooster, circa 1969

After World War II, Rubbermaid helped Wooster grow into a thriving small city, and put Wooster on the map, securing its role in the national and international marketplace. The relationship between Wooster and Rubbermaid benefited the city immensely but it also tied their economy to the ups and downs of the Rubbermaid company. Although Wooster is no longer home to Rubbermaid, the company’s legacy shaped the city immensely.  

Rubbermaid is Born  

A brick building with a sign that says "The Wooster Rubber Co"
Wooster Rubber Co. began manufacturing balloons in this building in 1920. Until the 1960s, it served as Rubbermaid’s headquarters. 

The Wooster Rubber Company was founded in 1920 by nine businessmen, including T.E. Rice, A.L. Robert, and Clyde Gault.  The company started out making toy balloons. The company was then bought in 1926 by Ebert and Errett Grable, two executives of the Aluminum Cooking Utensil Company. The balloon-making factory was successful until the stock market crashed in 1929 and suddenly, they needed new ideas to prevent them from going bankrupt. The answer to their woes was unconventional and came in the form of James Caldwell and his rubber dustpan. 1  

An excerpt from the Wooster Daily Record with the headline, "Incorporate Rubber Co. at Columbus, Sat."
This 1920 Daily Record article announces the incorporation of Wooster Rubber Company.
A green rubber dustpan
These colorful, molded rubber dustpans were the first product Rubbermaid sold. 

A patent certificate
James and Madeleine Caldwell’s 1933 patent for the first Rubbermaid dustpan.

James Caldwell and his wife Madeleine began experimenting with making household products from colorful rubber in the 1920s, the first of these being a rubber dustpan. Caldwell began selling these door-to-door, but they became so popular that he sought out a plant that would make them en masse. 2 Caldwell and Ebert met to discuss a new partnership in 1934. Later that year Caldwell moved to Wooster and became president of the company, and instead of producing balloons, they made Caldwell’s new line of household products, which he named “Rubbermaid”. 3 

Wartime Production

A poster that says "a gas mask requires 1.11 pounds of rubber" with a picture of a gas mask, "a life raft requires 17 to 100 pounds of rubber" with a picture of a life raft, "a scout car requires 306 pounds" with a picture of a scout car, "a heave bomber requires 1,825 pounds of rubber" with a picture of a heavy bomber, and "America needs your scrap rubber"
Posters such as these, printed by the United States War Production Board, reminded Americans that all available rubber was needed for military products. Due to this wartime scarcity, Wooster Rubber Company could not continue manufacturing dustpans and dish racks, but instead produced parts for military planes. 

With Caldwell’s help, Wooster Rubber Company managed to survive the Great Depression, and even expanded their line to include rubber dish racks, gloves, sink. Mats, and dish scrubbers. Hard times would hit the company though in 1942, when the federal government halted the production of all non-military rubber goods. Wooster Rubber Company shut down production and was forced to lay off all but sixteen of its workers.  

Before long though, Caldwell found a solution to this problem, and secured Wooster Rubber Company with a military production contract less than six months after they shut down. For the next three years, the factory was busier than ever producing rubber parts for planes. Not only did they rehire their old workers, but they recruited workers from the surrounding towns, and by 1944 Wooster Rubber Company had over 500 employees. Although wartime production eventually stopped, the wartime production boom propelled Rubbermaid towards postwar success.1  

The Boom Years

An advertisement for rubbermaid that shows a stylish-looking woman and smaller images of different products that says "to lighten and brighten your housework... famous rubbermaid houseware"
This Rubbermaid advertisement, which promised to “lighen and brighten your housework” appereared in Ladies Home Journal in 1950.

The end of WWII saw the rise of the post war economic boom, and with it, a new standard for women as suburban housewives. With limited access to the workforce, women were expected to take care of the home, which included buying the newest household products. Rubbermaid was happy to provide these products and advertised mainly to women in the 1950s and 60s. During Wooster Rubber Company’s first year after the war, they sold $2.5 million worth of household products, and by 1949 that figure had doubled. Rubbermaid stayed on the cutting edge of household technology and started selling molded plastic products in 1955. By 1957, the name ‘Rubbermaid’ had become so well known that Wooster Rubber Company adopted it as their own.  

Two men stand next to a sign that says "The Billion Dollar Team 1987"
Stanley Gault (center) stands with the Rubbermaid executive team announcing the company’s 1987 sales record.
A woman scoops flour out of a drawer on her kitchen cupboard.
This 1968 Rubbermaid advertisement features a fashionable housewife using one of Rubbermaid’s newest products.

As Rubbermaid expanded, so did its influence in Wooster. Their local workforce grew from 731 in 1955 to over 1,000 in 1960. 2 The company expanded its original Bowman street plant, and in 1960 they began construction on a new massive headquarters on Akron Road. As Rubbermaid broke ground on its new premises, CEO Donald Noble declared, “This groundbreaking ceremony is symbolic of our faith in Wooster and the people of this community, and of our desire to continue to be a part of Wooster.”3 Donald Noble retired in 1981 and Stanley Gault, a former General Electric executive and Wooster native took it over. Under his leadership, Rubbermaid became a Fortune 500 company and an internationally recognized brand. 

Rubbermaid Leaves Wooster

A man in a crane installing a sign that says "Newell Rubbermaid"
The “Everything Rubbermaid” store on South Market Street becomes “Everything Newell Rubbermaid” following the 1998 buyout. 

In 1994, Fortune magazine named Rubbermaid “America’s most admired corporation,” but Rubbermaid’s soaring success would not last forever. Within the next few years, profits began to decline as the price of materials rose and big box retailers pressured them to keep prices low.  Newell, an Illinois-based housewares corporation, ended up buying Rubbermaid in 1998 and soon relocated its headquarters to Atlanta, Georgia.1 The loss of the town’s largest industry certainly came as a blow to Wooster, but Wooster has been able successfully craft its own image without the company that shaped its history.  

Sources by Section

1 Donald E. Noble, Like Only Yesterday: The Memoirs of Donald E. Noble, (Wooster: The Wooster Book Company, 1996), 54-63. See also: “TE Rice Heads Concern Which Will Make Toy Balloons Here,” the Daily Record, Mar. 12, 1977.
2 Noble, 61-62.
3 Noble, 62. 

1 Noble, 71-79.

1 Noble, 81.
2 “Rubbermaid Built from Dustpan to $32 Million Annual Business,” The Daily Record, April 28, 1964. See also: “Rubbermaid,” Wayne County Businesses L-R, Binder, WCPL Genealogy and Local History Department.
3 “Rubbermaid Breaks Ground for Plans, Voices Faith in Wooster.” Daily Record. Nov. 11, 1960. 12.

1 Russell, John and Sally Cook. “Sale of Company Gives Wooster Identity Crisis.” Akron Beacon Journal. Oct. 22, 1998. A1.

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