Experience Tiffin's manufacturing history with TSPL

Tiffin has a varied history, but one facet of this history includes the manufacturing businesses that grew here and contributed to the growth of Tiffin. Many of these companies are no longer in existence, but some are still going strong today. The Tiffin-Seneca Public Library's digital library, the Seneca County Digital Library (SCDL), has brochures, company catalogs, advertising, and anniversary collections dedicated to some of these businesses. One of these companies is Webster Manufacturing. The SCDL contains two brochures, You Are Always Welcome at Webster and Webster Manufacturing 75th Anniversary. The company began in Chicago in 1876. It manufactured elevator buckets and bulk handling equipment for grain storage centers in the Midwest. The company needed larger quarters to manufacture complete grain elevator equipment. Tiffin was chosen as the city to expand the business, and building began in June, 1907. The company is still in business today as Webster Industries located on Hall Street. Another Tiffin business was Sterling Service. It began as Sterling Grinding Wheel in 1893 in Sterling, Massachusetts to manufacture grinding wheels to remove excess metal from castings. The business began to expand, and a Tiffin site was chosen. The ground breaking and building of the plant began in 1890. Read more about Sterling in the brochures 9 Good Reasons for Using Sterling Service and The Art and Science of Grinding which can be found in the SCDL. The third Tiffin business is American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation. Two essays are in the SCDL collection - American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation History and American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation Tiffin Plant Historical Record. Information contained in these essays tells us that the company began as Brewer Pottery Company. It manufactured cups, dishes, and plates in 1889. In 1892 the manufacturing changed to making sanitary bathroom fixtures, but in 1929 American Standard merged with American Radiator Company to form American Standard Incorporated which was the name it went by until the company closed. These are only a few of the manufacturing companies that either began in or later relocated to Tiffin. Their histories are rich and varied, and they led to Tiffin's growth. To find out more about Tiffin's manufacturing heritage, visit the Seneca County Digital Library at www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27. For more information about the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library and its many resources, please visit www.tiffinsenecalibrary.org.