O'Sullivan Rubber Company

Product Details

Historical Context

The phrase, "America's No. 1 Heel," doesn't sound like much of an advertising slogan these days, but in the early decades of this century it powered the sales of a rubber safety heel that became one of America's best-known shoewear products.

The rubber heel was invented, so the story goes, by one Humphrey O'Sullivan, a pressman in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1896. He nailed pieces of rubber floormat to his shoes to ease the leg fatigue caused by long hours of standing in front of his printing press. In 1899, O'Sullivan patented the rubber heel and it became the start of the O'Sullivan Rubber Company.

The heels were manufactured first by the Boston Belting Company, and later by Goodrich Rubber Company. In those years, shoemakers were abundant and getting one's shoes resoled or reheeled was far more common than it is today.

The O'Sullivan heel was vigorously promoted in its early years, and in 1908, O'Sullivan cashed in and sold his interest in the company for $4 million. He had invested $7,000 in the business only 11 years earlier.

In 1932, the O'Sullivan Rubber Company moved to Winchester, Virginia. During World War II, synthetic rubber replaced natural rubber in footwear and American industry began to discover the many uses of plastics.

Over the years, O'Sullivan expanded into various kinds of flexible plastics and began producing products for the automotive, luggage and business machine industries. In 1956, O'Sullivan began to manufacture vinyl for padded automobile dashboards.

In 1970, the company changed its name to the O'Sullivan Corp., and continued to expand, adding new facilities around the country.

Finally, in 1986, the company's rubber division was sold to Vulcan Corporation. The imports of footwear from Taiwan, Korea and Brazil had made the division unprofitable, the company said.

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