Sept. 3, 1903: The first day of business for the Owens Bottle Machine Co., formed after Michael J. Owens, with the help of engineer William Emil Bock, invents the first automatic bottle-making machine.
1908: The company starts making glass containers.
1913: The firm is commended by the National Child Labor Committee, which states that the Owens machine has done more to eliminate child labor than any legislative efforts.
1916: The stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
1929: Owens Bottle Co. acquires the assets of Illinois Glass Co. and renames itself Owens-Illinois Glass Co.
1932: It develops a vacuum packing machine for coffee and produces plastic closures for the first time.
1933: The company erects a glass-block building at the Century of Progress Exposition at the World's Fair in Chicago.
1935: It acquires Libbey Glass Co. and introduces stubby beer bottles.
1938: O-I and Corning Glass form Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. Libbey produces the first machine-made stemware.
1947: The firm introduces Kaylo, industrial heat insulation, a business it sells to Owens-Corning in 1958.
1958: The company makes the first blown plastic containers using high density polyethylene and opens its first foreign glass container plant, in Cuba.
1959: It is named as one of the 30 firms of the venerable Dow Jones industrial average.
1965: The corporate name changes to Owens-Illinois Inc.
1968: The firm starts the nation's first public glass container collection program at one plant. Also, it surpasses $1 billion in annual sales for the first time.
1976: William Niehous, a native of Toledo and vice president and general manager of the company's glassmaking and sales operations in Venezuela, is kidnapped in that South American country by a self-described “revolutionary command group.” He is rescued more than three years later.
1982: O-I opens a new corporate headquarters in downtown Toledo, known as One SeaGate, moving from a few blocks away at Madison Avenue and St. Clair Street.
1983: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers designates the Owens AR bottle machine an international historic engineering landmark, calling it “the most significant advance in glass production in over 2000 years.”
1987: The company switches from a publicly traded firm to a privately owned one after being acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
1988: It buys Brockway Inc. to enhance its glass and plastics packaging businesses.
1991: The firm again offers publicly traded stock.
1995: Its plastics and closures segment becomes a billion-dollar business for the first time.
2000: Worldwide shipments of glass containers by the company and its affiliates reach a record of about 100 million a day.
2002: The company's shares fall $3.71, or 21 percent, in two days in April as investors react to the firm's announcement of a $475 million accounting charge to increase its asbestos-liability reserve. The increase in the reserve is the second in two years.
May, 2003: The company says it is exploring the possibility of moving out of downtown Toledo when its lease at One SeaGate expires in 2006.
July, 2003: Joseph Lemieux, longtime company chairman and CEO, announces he will retire at the end of the year.
Sept. 3, 2003: Owens-Illinois will mark its 100th anniversary with 34,000 employees and $5.6 billion in annual sales. The commemoration is to consist of a lobby display and a public-television documentary.
First Published August 31, 2003, 5:23 p.m.
