1910
How It All Began

It was back in 1916 on East 42nd Street in New York City that a young man, Robert T. Vanderbilt, with the sales contracts in his briefcase of several southern clay to the paper industry, opened his modest office with a staff of one secretary and one salesman, the R.T. Vanderbilt Company, Inc.

The rest is all history

1917
Dixie Clay Construction

Clay with exceptional properties was, and still is, mined in South Carolina, among other locations. Initially intended for the Paper industry, Vanderbilt Minerals, LLC currently offers a wide range of clays for use in a number of applications; from rubber fillers to pharmaceuticals to personal care products.

1919
Growth into New Industries

After an initial focus on the Paper industry, the Company soon introduced mineral fillers for the Rubber industry and rapidly progressed with an array of new products, which have continually expanded to this day.

1920
Specialties Department

With Vanderbilt Research Laboratories established in Norwalk, CT, R&D accelerated in a number of areas. William H. Alton, the Vanderbilt Company's original salesman, organized the Specialties Department in 1920 to develop new issues for clay and pyrophylite minerals.

1922
Ceramics Business

Activities in ceramic began on a departmental basis in 1922 after earlier efforts on Mr. Vanderbilt's part had created an interest in domestic clays through contracting pottery manufacturers engaged in the production of sanitaryware.

1925
McNAMEE® Circa 1920'

McNAMEE® CLAY is an air floated kaolin clay (hydrated aluminum silicate) that has been a product of ours from the beginning.

Today, this product is used as an extender pigment in coatings and as a filler for primers, alkyd flats and latex paints.

It is compatible with water and solvent systems.

1929
Paint Applications

The Paint Department was formed in 1929 for the prime purpose of promoting pure titanium dioxide in the paint industry under the trade name of RAYOX® The new and revolutionary white pigment came into wide use as a replacement for zinc oxides, white lead, and lithopone.

1929
Paper Business

Through the first five years of operation the Paper Department's activity concentrated on domestic clays. Then in 1929, negotiations were completed which added pure titanium dioxide pigments to their line. The paper industry showed immediate interest in these new revolutionary white pigments, produced for the first time in this country by the Commercial Pigments Corporation.

1935
VANSTAY® Vinyl Resin Stabilizer

Plastics, particularly vinyls, introduced in the late '30s emerged from the war years as serious contenders for rubber in many industrial applications. Recognized their potential, Vanderbilt research turned to the study of these materials.

1940
Gouverneur purchased

Purchase of Gouverneur Talc

1943
Foods Market

Sheer "happenstance" paved the way for the beginning of the Food Department. A blind advertisement for ideas came up with one response suggesting the development of synthetic eggs. The year was 1942 and eggs were scarce. The idea was judged interesting enough to assign a rubber chemist to perfect it.

1945
VANCIDE® Industrial Preservative

The VANCIDE® Industrial Preservative Department began in 1945 as an integral group of the Rubber Department, organized to evaluate and develop organic chemicals as bactericides and fungicides for industrial and agricultural uses. A number of our widely used rubbers chemicals were known to be of value as agricultural fungicides and it seemed reasonable that additional that additional bactericidal and fungicidal chemicals could be found and developed by working in that direction.

1945
From Wartime On

Shifting to a wartime economy diverted practically all Vanderbilt products into items considered essential in time of war. All that transpired during those hectic years is well documented history, but the period of shortages, allocations and restrictions will long be remembered.

1951
Dixie Clay 1950s

Dixie Clay Division mines and processes kaolin clay on 3,000 acres in Bath, South Carolina. Kaolin, an hydrous aluminum silicate, is one of natures purest minerals. It has been called a universal mineral filler because of its chemical stability.

Commonly employed as a functional filler in rubber, paint, paper and plastics, it is also an important ingredient in ceramics, with uses in refractories, glassware, electrical insulators and fiberglass.

1955
Gouverneur Mineral Division

Gouverneur Mineral Division is a mining and milling operation in the Gouverneur district of New York State. The milling operation and mining operation are located in St. Lawrence County, near Gouverneur, NY

1955
Petroleum Industry

When a major petroleum producer started transporting gasoline by pipeline in 1937, they found that internal corrosion or rusting from moisture in the fuel was a major problem.

The Petroleum Department was organized in 1955 to promote the sale of the chemical under the trade name of ROKON™ Corrosion Inhibitor to the pipeline operators faced with corrosion problems.

1966
Trade Show Circa 1966

Showcasing fifty years of chemical progress. The Company has been supplying mineral fillers and chemicals to the paints & coatings industry since 1929. Products are available for both solvent-borne and water-borne coating types.

1969
Murray Ground Breaking

The future home to rubber chemicals, VANLUBE® Lubricant Additive, petroleum and specialty chemicals such as the paint dryer ACTIV-8® Drier, Stabilizers and Accelerators.

Vanderbilt Minerals Corporation's VEEGUM® Magnesium Aluminum Silicate processing plant will also located at Murray.

1974
Move to Connecticut

Vanderbilt Headquarters moves to Norwalk, CT.

1988
Murray Expansion

Major Expansion of the Murray, KY facilities.

2000
Vanderbilt introduces online ordering

Vanderbilt introduces online ordering on www.rtvanderbilt.com.

2007
Vanderbilt International Sarl opens

Vanderbilt International Sarl opens in Geneva, Switzerland.

2010
Vanderbilt Trading Opens

Vanderbilt (Beijing) Trading Ltd. opens in Beijing, China.

2015
Worldwide Opens

Vanderbilt Worldwide Ltd. opens in Nantwich, Cheshire, UK

2016
Vanderbilt celebrates 100 years

R.T. Vanderbilt celebrates 100 years in business.