The Genii Corporation abandoned plans to build plastic homes and instead concentrated on production of building materials made from plastic.
Submitted photo
BROOKVILLE — In January 1945, stockholders of the Genii Corporation, which was Brookville’s new plastic house factory, held their first annual meeting at the corporation’s Dayton offices.
The first Directors elected were C.A. Henry, president; Dr. Charles W. Thomas and D. C. Staley, vice-presidents; Wm. E. Tucker, secretary-treasurer; Harry Russell, Archie Bolser, Roger Scott, Russell Eby and Lee King, directors. The Corporation had purchased the Albert Warehouse and it was remodeled to factory purposes.
In the beginning, the company had planned to build plastic houses. In a 1945 Christmas advertisement, they stated: “We the GENII Corporation are not shruggers, we have a partial solution. Not a shack or four walls and a roof, but a home such as you would want to live in. We want to and are going to build a better home.”
The January 1946 stockholders meeting elected new officers. Mr. J. McBride was elected president and he became the general manager of the corporation. He then announced that a change in company policy had gone into effect.
The company had temporarily shelved the building of plastic homes. Instead, they would concentrate on production of building materials from plastic. Several samples of the plastic products that were to be manufactured at the Brookville Plant had been submitted to the government, at their request, for study and tests, also for a basis of release for public use in connection with the housing construction program.
Manufactures of equipment that was needed for production were promising four months delivery and based on that delivery the company planned to be in production by midsummer and to be releasing products for consumers use by fall. Mr. McKee also said that negotiations were under way for the procurement of war surplus equipment for some of the plant equipment.
When in full production, the Corporation would be on a 24 hour basis and would furnish employment to approximately 100 people.
All information and the photo for this Look at Brookville article were supplied by the Brookville Historical Society. Do you have a photo or historical information to share or add? Please contact the Brookville Historical Society at 937-833-0285 or email to [email protected].
