The Harvard Company and Weber Dental Manufacturing Company are former dental furniture and equipment manufacturers in Canton, Ohio.
The Harvard Company was founded by Frank E. Case, a lawyer, inventor, and businessman from Canton who designed and patented the first reclining dental chair. 1
In 1896, Case hired Guy Tilden, a well-respected local architect, to design a purpose-built factory on 13th Street Northeast. 1 Tilden designed a mammoth complex featuring Romanesque architectural styles and included a fireproof three-story tower used to store documents.
Weber Dental Manufacturing Company, founded as a dental furniture factory on South Cherry Avenue in 1898, acquired the Harvard Company in 1937. 1 4 Weber Dental opted to use the existing Harvard Company facilities. By the 1960s, with 320 employees, Weber Dental was the world’s largest dental furniture and X-ray machine manufacturer. 4
The Stern Metals Corporation acquired Weber Dental for $5 million in 1968 and operated It as a subsidiary. 4 The company announced that the Weber Dental subsidiary would cease operations in April 1977 after attempts to sell it failed. 5 The closure would affect only 18 employees.
An arson consumed a significant portion of the factory on October 27, 2011. 3 In June 2013, after years of abandonment, the Joseph A. Jeffries Company of Louisville proposed a new 26-acre industrial park on the site of the former Weber Dental and Ohio Cast Products site. 1 2 The Canton Community Improvement Corporation (CCIC) acquired 17 previously foreclosed parcels for $564. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency conducted the first phase of an environmental cleanup shortly after. 1
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Sources
- Rink, Matthew. “New industrial park planned for NE Canton.” Canton Repository 19 Jun. 2013: n.p. Web.
- Matas, Alison. “Environmental remediation planned for former Weber Dental site.” Canton Repository 9 Nov. 2015: n.p. Web.
- Monseqicz, Lori. “Blaze at former Weber Dental Building labeled as arson.” Canton Repository 28 Oct. 2011: n.p. Web.
- “Canton Firm to be Acquired.” Akron Beacon Journal 14 Nov. 1968: C17. Print.
- “Weber Dental is closing.” Akron Beacon Journal 2 Apr. 1977: A5. Print.
