Title
Industrial Rayon Corporation: Celebrating a Special Workplace
Description
Industrial Rayon Corporation in Cleveland manufactured rayon yarn, the world’s first synthetic fiber, which found use in items ranging from undergarments to tires. Rayon production using an innovative continuous spinning process at the West Boulevard plant and the Painesville plant reached high levels during WWII. The company weathered the Depression, labor strikes and environmental complaints, but in post-war years demand for rayon fell. The company became a division of Midland-Ross named IRC Fibers.
This collection of photographs and other materials was inspired by the many employees of "the Rayon" who smiled as they recounted memories of their employment at the Painesville plant. It was spurred on by the donation of four scrapbooks compiled by Rayon hourly employee Ed Rabbitt to Painesville's Morley Library.
Date Created
2006
Publisher
Cleveland Memory Project
What is Cleveland Memory?
The Cleveland Memory Project is a freely searchable online collection of digital photos, texts, oral histories, videos and other local history resources, built by the Michael Schwartz Library at the Cleveland State University in collaboration with a host of community partners around Northeast Ohio.
