The American Resinous Chemical Co. was located at 103 Foster St., Peabody, from 1942 to 1953.
Ashworth N. Stull and his colleagues at the company were faced with a challenge. They needed to invent a flexible liquid adhesive out of polymers, before their competitors at DuPont did.
After 800 attempts, in August of 1942, Stull took a short break, got married and went on his honeymoon. Upon his return, he realized the very last experiment he did before his trip was a huge success — what we now know as “Elmer’s Glue.”
Sadly, the American Resinous Chemical Co. is also well-known for another reason. The American Polymer Corp. was an affiliate of American Resinous, and its plant was located at 101 Foster St. Rear. At 1:55 p.m., on April 30, 1953, the plant exploded.
Thirty people were injured and there was one fatality, Frederick Lawson of Salem. Lawson was a Navy veteran, husband to Charlotte Lawson, and father to three children — Edward, Janice and Emmett.
After the fire, the company was acquired by Borden Chemicals.