Robinson Rubber Products was started by Ralph Robinson, who started out in the business by recapping tires. When the market for recapped tires fell out after World War II, the company turned to molded rubber products. The first item off the line was a bathroom plunger officially called the Grosvold Force Cup, but dubbed the “Super Duper Pooper Scooper” by the folks in the shop. Business boomed, and the plant moved from Minneapolis to 3629 Hampshire Ave. in St. Louis Park in 1951. The 3 buildings, built in 1947, had been the site of the King Foundry, which made aluminum cookware. The company was to make eight additions to these structures. In 1964 the company had 35 employees. In 1975, the company moved to New Hope.
According to the Industrial Supply Expediter in 1951, Robinson Rubber Products constituted the beginning of the rubber industry in Minnesota, and dubbed Ralph the Rubber King of Minnesota. According to the Industrial Supply Expediter, that is.
Robinson was born in 1900 in Minneapolis. He married Evelyn Baehr in 1929, and they lived in a house on Wooddale Ave. in St. Louis Park from 1942 to 1944. They had two sons, Brad and David. Brad took over the company after Ralph retired.