Mercer Rubber Company
Mercer Rubber Company is a manufacturer of rubber products. The company was founded in 1865 by the Frederick Sayen family. Mercer Rubber Company operated from a 2.5-acre (10,000 m2) site at 136 Mercer Street in Hamilton Square, an area within Hamilton Township, New Jersey, from 1866 until 1993. The company was purchased from the Sayen family by someone identified in New Jersey government reports only as "Mr. Brennan" in 1977, and from "Mr. Brennan" by Mason Industries in 1983. In January 1993, company operations were relocated to Hauppauge, Suffolk County, New York.
The company manufactured natural rubber products at the Hamilton Square location from 1866 until the 1930s, and synthetic rubber products from the 1930s until the location was closed in 1993. According to the company's web site, Mercer Rubber "started manufacturing mason jar gaskets and other small molded products in 1866" and "moved on to conveyor belting, customized industrial hose, and ultimately, expansion joints" around the beginning of the 20th century.
Significant controversy exists regarding Mercer Rubber Company's former Hamilton Square, New Jersey location and Frederick Sayen's former home at 155 Hughes Drive, directly across Mercer Street from the now demolished Rubber Company site.
The Sayen home and its gardens were purchased by Hamilton Township from developer David Cellars in 1988 with the intention of turning the Sayen property into a public park called Sayen Park Botanical Garden.
According to an article in the September 1, 2006 Times of Trenton, an unknown source contacted the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in 1991, three days prior to the public opening of Sayen Garden. The source claimed that, "waste chemicals and solid debris (from Mercer Rubber) had been dumped on the Sayen Gardens grounds for years while the property was the home of Frederick Sayen." The Times article states that, although "investigators found evidence that debris had been dumped on the grounds, they did nothing to further verify the complaint." The park opened as scheduled in 1991.
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