Compass: Charting the Evolution of Outdoor Gear

Eureka! History

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1895

Eureka! Tent & Awning Company formed in Binghamton, New York, prior to this year, exact year unknown

Makes wagon covers, awnings, flags, and canvas and commercial wall tents

1910

Arthur Legg and E.Dickerman purchased the company

1925

Legg’s son, Arthur Legg, bought out Dickerman’s interest

1948

Robert Blanchard, an Eureka! employee and tent designer, files a patent application for a free standing dome tent

1951

Blanchard’s patent application for a free standing dome tent is approved

1955-56

prototype free standing tents used by US military's Operation Deep Freeze in Antarctica

1956

offer a catalog of family camping tents

1959

create the Draw-Tite, a free standing, external frame tent based on Blanchards’s patented design

1960-61

Draw-Tite tents (in canvas) is used on Himalayan Scientific Mountaineering Expedition by Sir Edmund Hillary

1963

prototype nylon Draw-Tite tents field tested by the first American Mount Everest expedition team

Mountaineers Jim Whittaker And Barry Bishop suggested brass hooks to attach tent to frame and zipper vents

a Draw-Tite stood at Camp Six (8,366 m or 27,450 ft) for about 30 days in 130-160 kph (80 -100 mph) winds

1965

company experiences a headquarters fire, causing $500,000 worth of damage

1969

introduce the Mt Katahdin, the first commercial double walled nylon tent

1971

experienced another fire, this time causing $100,000 in damages

1973

introduced Timberline tent, first self-supporting, lightweight tent. Brass pole hooks precursor to plastic pole clips

over 2,700 Timberlines sold in first year

Purchased by Johnson Wax Associates (later Johnson Outdoors), a subsidiary of what is now SC Johnson Inc.

1983

over 1 million StormShield design Timberline tents sold

1993

Johnson Worldwide Assoc moves marketing, sales, R&D, and customer service functions to Racine, Wisconsin

1999

moves Outdoor Equipment Group back to Binghamton

2001

created the high-altitude tent, the 5th Season, for the Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition on Everest

2006

production ceased at Binghamton headquarters for nearly two months as flooding results in $5 million in damage

Eureka! now