The Sun Rubber Company Given our propensity for saving name stones in Barberton (Jacob building most recently) I thought we would talk about Sun Rubber. Sun Rubber began business in Barberton in 1923 in a small building at Fairview Ave and Van Buren that had belonged to the bankrupt Avalon Rubber Company. Sun Rubber founded on April 4, 1923 first manufactured toy hot water bottles. Sun soon moved into the production of rubber dolls and squeak toys. By 1950 Sun Rubber, through multiple expansions of the plant, had become the largest producer of rubber dolls in the world. Through licensing agreements with companies like Gerber and Disney, Sun Rubber produced a line of Gerber doll babies and Disney crib and wheeled toys featuring the popular Disney characters. Floating Disney soap dishes for the bathtub and a full line of basketballs and footballs were also produced. When World War II began, the rubber imported by Sun for its toys, was diverted into wartime production of gas masks and rubber protective clothing. Sun Rubber dove into war time production and even produced a Mickey Mouse gas mask for children who were caught up in the war. Staffing at the Sun Rubber Plant expanded from 500 to 1200 over three shifts during World War II. Many women worked in the plant during and after the war. In 1949 Sun Rubber was one of the first companies to produce a black baby doll, which was based on the radio show Amos and Andy. The Amosandra doll was produced within a week of the on “air birth” from the radio show. The Amosandra doll was produced by noted doll artist, Ruth E. Newton. The doll came with accessories such as a baby bottle and a gold embossed birth certificate, predating the idea of the Cabbage Patch Dolls marketed with a birth certificate by 35+ years. In 1956, after 33 years in business, Sun Rubber still employed over 700 workers and was one of Barberton’s largest employers. Many people from Barberton had one or more family workers working at Sun Rubber and their children all tell stories about how the workers were allowed to bring home toys that were “seconds” from the factory. By the 1960’s the company was having problems with “toy pirates” from overseas who were dumping their products in the U. S. along with a difficult local labor market. In 1966 Sun had managed to refinance itself and the name was changed to Sun Corporation. On June 19, 1969 Sun was sold and became a subsidiary of Talley Industries Inc. Sun had received a patent on a new rotational casting method by which its toys were made. The introduction of the Sun Rubber Hippety Hops in the 1960’s led to an increase in employment in the 1960’s. The Hippety Hop with the Disney character heads became a world wide sensation. A strike lasting from December 5, 1973 to March of 1974 doomed the plant and Sun was closed down. In the mid 1970’s B&C Industries took over the Sun Rubber plant and office. The building was used to make steel wheels, closing down in 2007. In July of 2010 Louis Bilinovich of B&C Industries gave the Barberton Historical Society permission and we salvaged the Sun Rubber stone and trim from the front of the building.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 02:28:19 +0000
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