REX Flintkote Roofing - History of Roofing

Better known as The Flintkote Company was founded in 1901 then incorporated in 1917.

It was primarily manufactured of asphalt shingles but many other roofing materials were produced in the Boston Massachusetts plant. Over many years, the Flintkote company expanded into other types of services including emulsions systems to be used in road building and road maintenance, as well as siding, pipes, gypsum paper products and even folding boxes for packaging. In 1963 Flintkote operated 147 manufacturing plants in Europe, and here in these cities, New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Illinois, and California.

In June 1971, 11,300 people worked for the company, 6,600 of them union members. For a large company to have a strong presence in the market places they must have had a strong advertising campaign. Here a few examples of the artistic ads placed in newspapers and magazines.

The black cat on a roof with the sharp claws to the left is interesting. Maybe it was used to stress the point of the materials being grip-tite to the roof like a cat, but I could not find anything regarding it or what the yellow circle or moon meant. The old roofer to the right, find a supply of instructions and a bag of nails with this roll of roofing. Third, the bottom ad has much to say but does it in a way that kept me interested in the product. I noticed in two of the three ads a little boy roofer was shown and probably used to make a statement of ease of installation or just to tug at one’s heart, who knows but I find these old manufactures ads fun to look at and a part of our Roofing History.

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