The Hood Rubber Company was founded in 1896 by brothers Frederic Clark Hood and Arthur Needham Hood. The company opened its doors in November 1896 in a 70,000 square-foot plant in Watertown, Massachusetts. The main product of the company was footwear, principally sneakers. It also manufactured rubber boots and leather shoes and boots in smaller quantities. Several models of the Hood rubber boots were used by French, British, and American armed forces during World War I. Pneumatic tires and rubber tubes were also produced in large quantities. In 1919 the company began making battery jars for automobiles, and in 1923 added a line of carpet lining and rubber floor tiling, with limited success. The Hood Rubber Company grew steadily each year, at one point producing over 90,000 pairs of shoes a day and employing over 9,000 workers. The factory in Watertown, Massachusetts, was expanded to encompass more than sixty buildings with a combined floor space of over forty-five acres. In August 1929, Hood Rubber Company was purchased by B. F. Goodrich Company of Akron, Ohio. B. F. Goodrich Co. relocated its own footwear division to Watertown. The plant operated until its closure in 1969. The Hood Rubber Company name continued to be used until the late 1950s.
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