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The Hartford Rubber Works Co., Hartford, Conn.

The Ladies' Home Journal
March 1898

The Hartford Rubber Works Co. was established by John W. Gray, a Hartford rubber goods merchant, in 1881. The company’s initial plant was built on the south side of Park Street shortly after the firm was organized. The original factory measured just 50’ x 60’ and Gray’s entire workforce numbered just 20 hands. By the early 1890s, however, the firm had expanded to become one of the largest and best equipped manufacturers of rubber goods in the country, positioning itself as the primary supplier of bicycle tires to the Pope Manufacturing Co., also based in Hartford. In 1892, a Hartford Courant article announced Pope’s acquisition of majority control of the Hartford Rubber Works, which at that time employed about 170 employees and operated 24 hours a day. In 1899 the Hartford Rubber Works was absorbed into one of Pope’s various holding companies, the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Co., and then in 1905 was purchased by another conglomerate, the U.S. Rubber Co... connecticutmills.org



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