Industry Manufacturing Founded 1848 | Website www.nashua.com Parent organization Cenveo | |
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Predecessor Nashua Card and Glazed Paper Company and Carter, Rice & Company Products Labels and other specialty paper products, including duct tape, deli labels and the paper used to print movie theater tickets Headquarters Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States | ||
The Nashua Corporation (NASDAQ: NSHA) is an American company headquartered in Nashua, New Hampshire that makes labels, specialty papers, and imaging products and services. On September 15, 2009, it was bought by Cenveo, Inc. As of early 2010, it had four factories in several states.
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History
Nashua began as a gummed paper manufacturer in Rockport, Massachusetts. In 1898 the company folded. The owner, Charles H. Crowell, was not only an inventor, but he was also a farsighted entrepreneur. He sold his crumbling company to Carter, Rice & Company of Boston, who kept Crowell on as manager of their new division, now renamed to Winthrop Manufacturing Company. A fire destroyed the factory in February, 1904, which had in the meantime moved to south Boston. The search for a new locale led owners Carter and Rice to Nashua, New Hampshire, where they found the heavily in debt Nashua Card and Glazed Paper Company, which had been founded in 1849 as a manufacturer of cardboard and glazed paper. During the California Gold Rush Nashua made playing cards for miners and became known as a result as the Card Shop. This name stuck with the company for almost 100 years, well into the 1950s. The owners of Nashua were happy to sell their factory to Carter and Rice for $74,000, plus mortgage. At that moment, 1904, the present day Nashua Corporation was founded. In April, 1904 the wholly owned subsidiary was incorporated. It became known as the Nashua Card, Gummed and Coated Paper Company. The new company brought together the capabilities of both companies, continuing to manufacture the products of Carter, Rice & Company, namely gummed flats, gummed paper, and sock linings, they added the products of the previous company, that is, glazed paper, cardboard, and "surface coated" paper.
In 1910 the company had its first telephone installed along with new office machinery and boilers. That year the company also brought on staff its first chemist, paving the way for the inclusion of research and development into the business model.
In 1926 it bought the Knowles Youngblood Co., and in 2000 it merged with Rittenhouse, another printing specialty firm.
Nashua Corporation sold its line of tape products to Tyco International in 1997. The tape products line was then divested as part of Covalence Specialty Materials which later merged with Berry Plastics. Nashua Brand Tape Products are now manufactured in Franklin, Kentucky.
Popular culture
Nashua Tape Products' 357 brand duct tape is used by MythBusters duo Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman for their projects. Nashua Tape's 357 was featured in four MythBusters episodes including Duct Tape Hour (Season 7, Episode 13), Duct Tape Hour 2 (Season 8, Episode 7), Duct Tape Plane (Season 9, Episode 16), and most recently Duct Tape Island (Season 10, Episode 1).