About Summitville
The Summitville Story dates back to 1912 when a share of stock in the company sold for fifty dollars, when shale and clay were dug by steam shovel, when beehive kilns were loaded by hand and fired by coal…and when the offices of the Summit Brick Company were shared with the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad in the old Railroad station adjacent to the factory.
F. H. Johnson came to Summitville in 1920 and converted operations over from the manufacturing of highway paving brick to commercial face brick. Soon his Summitville Face Brick Co. was flourishing. … well known for its deep red shale bricks, marketed as “Summitville Reds.” F.H. Johnson would endure the Great Depression, a 19-month strike in the late 1930’s and the difficult years of World War II., holding the company intact against the odds. Following World War II, a second generation joined the company. Andy by 1947, Fred Jr. and Peter Johnson would rename the company, “Summitville Tiles,” and begin to produce quarry tile in a wide variety of colors, sizes and shapes. Despite two devastating fires, in 1950 and 1952, they set the business on an upward trajectory. Adding a second quarry tile plant in 1965, they doubled the company’s output of quarry tile and became one of the leading US producers in this product sector.
From the late 1960’s through the 1980’s, Pete and Fred Johnson placed distribution centers in key cities throughout the country developing a national presence. In 1980, they launched “Summitville Laboratories” to produce a full line of tile installation materials. By this time, the business was at its peak performance, employing some 750 associates at four manufacturing sites, two clay mining operations and sixteen distribution centers across the country.
A third generation of the Johnson family took the reins of the company in the mid 1980’s … when Bruce and David Johnson jointly managed the business that their grandfather started. A fourth generation Johnson, Jeff, joined their ranks. While under the leadership of David and Bruce, the company successfully underwent a difficult restructuring of its operations to better complete the evermore globally competitive tile marketplace. As a result of this, the company not only expanded into new product lines, but into new markets around the globe.
From its humble beginnings in 1912, the modern-day Summitville Tiles has reached beyond the boundaries of the little Ohio Village for which it was named to become a leader in the American Ceramic Tile Industry. In the face of unprecedented global competition, Summitville is the only charter member of the tile industry’s national trade association to remain in business.
Summitville celebrated its 100th, Anniversary in 2012, a tribute not only to a century of corporate endurance, but to the hundreds of employees and thousands of customers that have contributed to its success in so many ways through all the years.
In February of 2024, Summitville was successfully acquired by the North American Leader in Building Material Solutions, General Shale. Today, Summitville is now successfully integrated and part of the General Shale portfolio, poised to build upon the rich history of our beloved brand.
Read more about General Shale Purchases Ohio-Based Summitville Tile