Firestone-Apsley Rubber Company
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (September 2017) |
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 U.S. congressman and businessman Lewis Dewart Apsley and J. H. Coffin of Boston. This company produced rubber (or "gossamer") clothing. Within five years, the Goodyear Gossamer Company became the largest producer of gossamer garments in the nation.
In 1892, Apsley purchased Coffin's share of the Goodyear Gossamer Company and reincorporated it as the Apsley Rubber Company. This company produced both rubber clothing and footwear. The plant employed around 1200 to 2000 people during its existence, more than half of all of those employed in Hudson at the time.
The brick plant was sold to the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company when Apsley 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 2018 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.
See also
External links
42°23′41.69″N 71°34′34.1″W / 42.3949139°N 71.576139°W
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