Wooster Celebrates 150 years

From January 1 through May 31, 2001, Wooster is offering a national sweepstakes for all painters. The grand prize winner will be announced June 30 on “Wooster Brush Day” in Wooster, Ohio. Festivities that day, including refreshments, a classic car display, and a free Sousa band concert, are open to everyone. The company is also offering product promotions on many of their bestsellers throughout all of 2001.

Over the past 150 years Wooster has not only survived, but prospered. Their experience in the industry is unmatched – Wooster has 540 dedicated employees with an average of 12 years of service each. The company has elected only eight presidents in its history. Allan K Rodd became president and treasurer on May 1, 1998. He has 30 years of service with the company.

Rodd stated, “We’ve worked hard to continually improve, not just the product, but the process, too. Today we feel Wooster offers outstanding products at the fairest prices, backed by the most reliable service in the industry. All of us owe a big thanks to the thousands of painters, retailers, and distributors who have supported Wooster the first 150 years, and helped us reach this remarkably rare and happy milestone.”

Established in 1851, The Wooster Brush Company is one of the oldest manufacturers of paint applicators in the country. The company founder Adam Foss traveled from Pennsylvania to Ohio to set up shop. He began producing bristle paintbrushes by hand in a small, two-story building in downtown Wooster, then sold the brushed door-to-door throughout the state.

The Wooster Brush Company acquired land on Madison Avenue in 1909, and a new factory was built. The structure was 70-feet wide and 200-feet long, providing three times as much floor space as before. The Madison Avenue site in Wooster, Ohio is still the company location today.

The company has grown to over 500,000 square feet of manufacturing, shipping, and warehousing facilities. Like their products, which are designed and constructed by Wooster engineers and production personnel, packaging and advertising material are also produced in-house by their graphic design and printing departments.

The Wooster Brush company has contributed many milestones to the paint applicator industry. These include the first use of nylon synthetic filament for paintbrushes, creation of the Exploded-Tip® process to make soft flags on filament ends, invention of popular paintbrush styles such as the angle sash and the Shasta® varnish brush, and the introduction of synthetic fabrics for roller covers, now an industry standard.

Wooster has continued this tradition of ground-breaking development over the decades. Each year, Wooster designs more new products than any other high-quality applicator manufacturer. Some of the most popular brands of painting equipment are currently made by The Wooster Brush Company: Ultra/Pro® and Yachtsman® paintbrushes, Super/Fab® roller covers, Sherlock® roller frames and extension poles, Prep Crew® surface prep tools.