Armstrong World Industries was founded by Thomas M. Armstrong and John D. Glass in 1860 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They founders carved cork bottle stoppers by hand and delivered them in a wheelbarrow.
By 1864 Armstrong was branding the corks and soon began to offer a written guarantee in each burlap bag of corks he sold. The company was the largest cork supplier in the world by 1890 and was incorporated in 1891.
Over the years the company expanded into corkboard, brick, linoleum, fiberboard, ceramic tile, laminate flooring, carpeting, hardwood flooring, and cabinets.
Today Armstrong World Industries sells its flooring products to home centers, wholesalers, and contractors and has 35 manufacturing plants in eight countries.
Armstrong World Industries trades publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AWI, is #779 in the Fortune 1000, has 7,400 employees, and had $2.52 billion in revenue in 2014.
