R. T. Vanderbilt Company opened its doors for business on 42nd Street in New York City in 1916. It was started by a 31-year-old named Robert Thurlow Vanderbilt who had $1,000 of his own, a $24,000 family loan, and a contract to sell clay for a company in the South. Since the paper industry was a prime market for clay, it was here that Robert Vanderbilt saw his Company begin to grow. His success led him to form R. T. Vanderbilt Company's first subsidiary, Continental Clay Company (now Dixie Clay Company) in South Carolina. However, while soft clay was geared to the needs of the paper industry, Continental Clay and North American Clay Company (of which Robert was a director) were also mining hard clays more suitable to the rubber industry. This introduced Vanderbilt to the rubber industry. And so the Company has grown from year to year until today we sell more than sixty categories of minerals and chemicals, made up of over 800 products, to twelve different industries: rubber, plastics, petroleum, paint, paper, pharmaceutical, agricultural, ceramics, adhesives, wire and cable, cosmetics, and household products. The Company now has seven wholly-owned subsidiaries operating chemical manufacturing plants in Connecticut and Kentucky, and mining and minerals processing facilities in New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, California and Kentucky. In addition to our own minerals and chemicals, we distribute products of many distinguished companies under continuing contracts dating back to the mid-1920's. The Company employs 420 men and women, selling throughout the United States and in some 80 countries around the world. We expect our growth to continue. As long as we produce quality minerals and chemicals and render a useful service to our customers, there will always be a market for the products of R.T. Vanderbilt Holding Company, Inc.