Howalt recalled for contributions to carpet industry

Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·2 min read

Jul. 13—Dalton business and political leaders recalled Frederick Harvey Howalt Jr. as "one of the giants" who helped build the carpet industry in Dalton.

Howalt, who founded Textile Rubber & Chemical Co. in 1951 to provide latex backing for the rug and carpet industry, passed away on July 6. He was 94.

"He was one of the giants, one of the generation that began the carpet industry and made Dalton what it is," said Dalton Mayor David Pennington.

Textile Rubber & Chemical is still headquartered in Dalton but has grown to be a global company serving many industries with "manufacturing and distribution facilities around the world," according to the company's website.

According to an obituary, Howalt was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended Boston English High School. He later attended Boston University. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corp towards the end of World War II.

After the war, he worked at Tillotson Rubber Co. in Massachusetts.

Tillotson produced balloons and rubber exam gloves. The owner, Neil Tillotson, also owned a sewing operation in Menlo in Chattooga County, according to the obituary, and when a salesman from that plant visited company headquarters in Massachusetts, he told Howalt and Tillotson about the growing rug industry in Dalton and its need for a good backing for its products.

They sent the salesman back to Dalton with a latex compound, which the salesman convinced Barwick Mills to try. With backing from Tillotson, according to the obituary, Howalt brought his family to Dalton and founded Textile Rubber & Chemical.

"Harvey came along with the right product at the right time," said Carpet and Rug Institute President Joe Yarbrough. "Who knows how the carpet industry would have developed without him."

Yarbrough called Howalt and Textile Rubber & Chemical "truly innovative."

"I really enjoyed working with him in my early years at Aladdin Mills," he said. "We worked with him on the rubber compounds on our scatter rugs and our room-sized rugs as we called them. He was working with chemistries that were ideal for our industry in those days. We were very fortunate that someone like him took an interest in our industry."

According to his obituary, Howalt was an enthusiastic sailor and enjoyed scuba diving, skiing, tennis, fly fishing and reading among other activities.

"He really was a Renaissance man, with many skills and many interests," said Yarbrough. "I count myself lucky to have know him and to have worked with him."