Celotex

Celotex Corporation is a defunct American manufacturer of insulation and construction materials. It was the subject of a number of high-profile lawsuits over products containing asbestos in the 1980s, eventually declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990.

The company was founded in 1920 in Chicago, Illinois as a subsidiary of Philip Carey Corporation, to manufacture its namesake product Celotex insulation board, often called simply Celotex. Celotex is a fiberboard made from bagasse (sugar cane waste after extraction of the juice), first produced in a factory in Marrero, Louisiana, outside of New Orleans. In 1932, Celotex Corporation was spun off as an independent company. In 1961, Jim Walter Corporation, a homebuilding company, acquired Celotex, moving the headquarters to Tampa, Florida in 1965. Celotex moved again, to Saint Petersburg, Florida, in 2001.