In 1881 the business was incorporated under the name of the Davol Rubber Company, with Joseph Davol as president, treasurer and general manager He remained the active head of the organization until his death, dictating its policies, and laying the foundations for still greater expansion after his demise. He was also an active factor in numerous commercial and financial enterprises, and was a director in the Industrial Trust Company and the Phoenix National Bank of Providence. He was a member of several of the leading clubs of the city.
In 1862 Mr. Davol married Mary E. Turner, daughter of Captain Joseph and Mary A. (Simmons) Turner. Mrs. Davol is a lineal descendant of Catain William Turner of King Philip's War fame. They were the parents of two sons: George A. Davol, the elder, died in 1913, leaving one son, Walter L. Davol; Charles Joseph, the younger, is president, treasurer and general manager of the Davol Rubber Company.
Joseph Davol died at his home in Providence, July 5, 1909, in his seventy-third year. His name stands out notably in the history of the rubber industry in New England. For thirty-five years he was intimately connected with the manufacture of rubber as one of the captains of the industry. He was not only a man of considerable inventive genius, but he was an executive and an organizer of more than ordinary talent, to which fact the Davol Rubber Company, one of the greatest establishments of its kind in the world, testifies. Providence has profited by his connection with its business interests, and the reputation and standing of the city as a commercial and manufacturing center has been greatly enhanced by the operation of the Davol Rubber Company. In this age of manufactured rubber goods in every conceivable form, it is difficult to realize that half a century ago the chemistry of rubber was but little understood. Years of experiment and countless sums of money were employed in causing the raw rubber to divulge its secrets. When in 1870 Joseph Davol felt warranted in the beginning of a manufacturing plant, it was a very small and feeble one, strong only in the genius, courage and faith of its founder. The history of all the men who have devoted themselves to the subjugation of raw rubber is a story of hard work, disappointment, privation and often signal failure. But it is also a history of success, fame and recompense. Goodyear but paved the way with the immortal discovery that the sticky, refractory, unmanageable stuff could be tempered, vulcanized and made into water resisting articles. Those who have followed him with their discoveries of the countless ways of washing, breaking, combing with other materials, rolling, pressing, molding and reducing it to any required thickness, shape or size, and to employ it in the thousands of ways in which rubber as a base is now employed, are equally deserving of undying remembrance, as it is to these persevering, unconquerable, investigating, inquisitive men, that the world owes perhaps its greatest industry.
Member of Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
In 1881 the business was incorporated under the name of the Davol Rubber Company, with Joseph Davol as president, treasurer and general manager He remained the active head of the organization until his death, dictating its policies, and laying the foundations for still greater expansion after his demise. He was also an active factor in numerous commercial and financial enterprises, and was a director in the Industrial Trust Company and the Phoenix National Bank of Providence. He was a member of several of the leading clubs of the city.
In 1862 Mr. Davol married Mary E. Turner, daughter of Captain Joseph and Mary A. (Simmons) Turner. Mrs. Davol is a lineal descendant of Catain William Turner of King Philip's War fame. They were the parents of two sons: George A. Davol, the elder, died in 1913, leaving one son, Walter L. Davol; Charles Joseph, the younger, is president, treasurer and general manager of the Davol Rubber Company.
Joseph Davol died at his home in Providence, July 5, 1909, in his seventy-third year. His name stands out notably in the history of the rubber industry in New England. For thirty-five years he was intimately connected with the manufacture of rubber as one of the captains of the industry. He was not only a man of considerable inventive genius, but he was an executive and an organizer of more than ordinary talent, to which fact the Davol Rubber Company, one of the greatest establishments of its kind in the world, testifies. Providence has profited by his connection with its business interests, and the reputation and standing of the city as a commercial and manufacturing center has been greatly enhanced by the operation of the Davol Rubber Company. In this age of manufactured rubber goods in every conceivable form, it is difficult to realize that half a century ago the chemistry of rubber was but little understood. Years of experiment and countless sums of money were employed in causing the raw rubber to divulge its secrets. When in 1870 Joseph Davol felt warranted in the beginning of a manufacturing plant, it was a very small and feeble one, strong only in the genius, courage and faith of its founder. The history of all the men who have devoted themselves to the subjugation of raw rubber is a story of hard work, disappointment, privation and often signal failure. But it is also a history of success, fame and recompense. Goodyear but paved the way with the immortal discovery that the sticky, refractory, unmanageable stuff could be tempered, vulcanized and made into water resisting articles. Those who have followed him with their discoveries of the countless ways of washing, breaking, combing with other materials, rolling, pressing, molding and reducing it to any required thickness, shape or size, and to employ it in the thousands of ways in which rubber as a base is now employed, are equally deserving of undying remembrance, as it is to these persevering, unconquerable, investigating, inquisitive men, that the world owes perhaps its greatest industry.
Member of Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
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