The Valspar Corporation is an American international manufacturer of paint and
coatings based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. With nearly 10,000
employees in 25 countries and a company history that spans over two centuries
long, it is the sixth largest paint and coating corporation in the world. The
200+ year old Valspar was founded in 1806 as a paint dealership in Boston,
Massachusetts. The Valspar name emerged in 1903 as a new clear varnish, and
became the company name in 1932. History
= 19th century beginnings = In 1806, Samuel Tuck established a paint
dealership in Boston, Massachusetts, called "Paint and Color". Over the
course of 50 years, the dealership changed owners and names several times,
and was eventually acquired by Augustine Stimson. In 1832, Lawson Valentine had
incorporated Valentine and Company as a varnish manufacturer in Boston. The two
businesses eventually merged under the name Stimson & Valentine.
Later in 1855, Otis Merriam joined as a principal owner, and in 1860 Henry
Valentine, Lawson Valentine's brother, joined the company. By 1866, both
Stimson and Merriam were retired from the group and the company was renamed
back to Valentine & Company and Lawson Valentine hired Charles Homer, brother
of American artist Winslow Homer, as a chemist for the company. Homer, being
one of few chemists in the United States at the time, was the first such
specialist recruited into the American varnish industry.
In 1870, Valentine & Company relocated to New York City and acquired the
Minnesota Linseed Oil Paint Company. Around this time, the company began to
develop varnishes for use on vehicles which could compete with English-made
varnishes. Henry Valentine succeeded his brother as president in 1882, taking
over a company with operations in Boston, Chicago, New York City and on
the West Coast of the United States. Later their operations expanded to
Pennsylvania and Paris. = The Valspar name =
Valspar was the first ever clear varnish, and was developed by L.
Valentine Pulsifer, Lawson Valentine's grandson. Pulsifer had joined the
company in 1903 after earning a degree in chemistry from Harvard University.
After three years of experimentation, he created the clear varnish, which went
into production by 1905. The Valspar varnish was the company's main product
for the next thirty-some years. The advertising tagline, "the varnish that
won't turn white" made Valspar a household name. Famous uses of Valspar
by Robert Peary in his 1909 expedition, the United States military in World War
I, and Charles Lindbergh's 1927 flight helped boost its fame.
In 1932, the Valspar Corporation was formed, with Valentine & Company
retained as a subsidiary. In 1960, Valspar merged with Ralph Baudhuin's
Rockcote, which gave them more manufacturing in the Midwestern United
States and a new headquarters in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Under the
leadership of Ralph and F. J. Baudhuin, Valspar averaged almost two acquisitions
per year through the 1960s. In June 1970, Valspar merged with Minnesota
Paints and relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and its former president, C.
Angus Wurtele, became chairman of Valspar in 1973. The influx of cash from
this latest acquisition boosted Valspar's acquisition power and by the
end of the decade, their annual revenue had increased by $74 million.
= Era of acquisitions = Prior to the 1980s, Valspar's primary
focus had been on consumer business, but in 1984 they acquired Mobil's coatings
business for $100 million. This effectively doubled Valspar's business;
their revenue was almost equal to Mobil's coatings division. Furthermore,
as the division represented less than 0.5% of Mobil's total business at the
time, they were willing to sell it off for a low price. Valspar completed
integration of Mobil's operations by 1986.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Valspar continued to acquire paint and
coatings companies and continued growing. Enterprise Paint Companies in
1987, the McCloskey Corporation in 1989, and Hi-Tek Polymers and portions of Cook
Paint and Varnish Company in 1991. In 1993, Valspar announced that it would
acquire Cargill's resin products division, but the Federal Trade
Commission tried to block it as Valspar would have too large a share of the
resin market in the Midwestern United States. Valspar went ahead with the deal
anyway, but divided the business between two companies McWhorter Technologies and
Engineered Polymer Solutions. Richard Rompala, formerly of PPG
Industries, became president in 1994, CEO in 1995 and chairman in 1998. He
pushed the then-primarily North American company into China, Hong Kong, Brazil,
Mexico, and South Africa and acquiring some companies. In 2000, Valspar
acquired Lilly Industries, which required them to divest their mirror
coatings business in order to conform with United States antitrust law.
However, due to the cooling economy and restructuring charges from fourteen
plant closings in 2001, Valspar's twenty-six consecutive years of earnings
growth was halted. Valspar bought Samuel Cabot Incorporated
in 2005. Brands
The Valspar Corporation sells its products under a number of separate
brand names, many of which have been acquired through a series of buyouts in
the past 20 years. Valspar
Plasti-Kote House of Kolor
Cabot Stain Barn and Fence
De Beer Octoral
Valspar Industrial Mix LIC
Devine Color US Chemical & Plastics
Prospray Matrix
Notable employees Joseph Campbell, fourth Comptroller
General of the United States References
External links Official website
Additional History