As we continue to look at Beaver County Memories, we turn our attention to “industrial strength” memories. This segment is part of a special series showcasing the manufacturing sector. Beaver County Memories brought to you by St. Barnabas.
Beaver County is well known for making steel. Behemoth mills bearing the names of Jones and Laughlin, Crucible and Babcock and Wilcox became legendary for their contributions to the local economy as well as keeping the world supplied with top quality products, as only Beaver County workers could produce. But there were other things that were made in Beaver County. Everything from fine china to chocolates, to bricks to cork and many other products were created by local residents through the years.
For over a hundred years, one of the bigger manufacturing concerns in Beaver Falls had nothing to do with steel, but rather a much more pliable, flexible and lighter material. That being cork and fiberboard. Armstrong Cork Company was formed in 1860 in Pittsburgh by Thomas M. Armstrong and John D. Glass. Reportedly, they initially carved cork bottle stoppers by hand and sold them out of a one room facility in those early days. Business must have been good, because in 1903, Armstrong Cork Company built a massive five acre facility in Beaver Falls at the northern end of downtown neighboring Geneva College. Initially, Armstrong Cork made wall board and other things out of cork. The process created a couple of by-products that filled the air including a particular scent of burnt cork and lots of black smoke that belched out of the tall smoke stack in the center of the complex at various times throughout the day. It was common for business executives working near the plant in Beaver Falls back in the day to take an extra white dress shirt to work with them. In an era when air conditioning was not commonplace as it is now, open windows and thick black smoke nearby meant a noontime shirt change for the businessman who wanted to look good for his afternoon meetings and appointments.
In 1936, Armstrong Cork Company acquired and then renovated the former Beaver Falls Art Tile Company building located on thirteenth street and had significant operations at both facilities in town for the next forty years. At its height, Armstrong Cork Company employed around seven hundred people at the two Beaver Falls locations.
In 1973, Armstrong Cork Company closed the factory at the base of College Hill, but the ominous smokestack and piles of bricks from razed buildings remained on the site until the early eighties. Invariably, many a young Geneva College student attending a football game at Reeves Field in that era would hear the stories shared by an older town resident seated nearby. Oftentimes the tales would begin with the storyteller gesturing toward the giant, dormant brick column towering over the south end zone. This would help create a very realistic image in the mind of the young student listener, as they heard pontifications on how the great smoke stack would spew forth its famous dark clouds that would cloak the city. It literally served as a monument to the town’s culture and history.
Armstrong Cork continued to operate with a consolidated workforce at the 13th street facility for another four decades, and began to focus on other products like ceiling tiles. In 1980, the company reorganized and became known as Armstrong World Industries. The company headquarters was moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania at that point in time. While Armstrong World Industries continued to expand operations elsewhere and develop new products and enter into new lines of business, the Beaver Falls plant was closed in 2011. Around 150 workers were employed there at that stage of the game. Many of them transferred to other Armstrong World Industries sites.
Armstrong World Industries is now commonly referred to as A.W.I., and operates twenty six facilities and employs around 4,200 people. The Armstrong logo is still a very recognizable, common entity in ceiling tile and flooring products.
This “industrial strength” Beaver County memory has been presented by St. Barnabas. Archived transcripts of this and other Beaver County Memories can be found at Beaver County Radio dot com. Tune in everyday for another Beaver County Memory on WBVP, WMBA, 99.3 F.M., and online through google play and iTunes apps, and Alexa smart devices.