MANSFIELD — James Carville Gorman’s story began on the Eastern Seaboard, but was cemented in the blue-collar values of the Midwest.
He was born in Baltimore, Maryland on Feb. 11, 1884, the son of a dock worker. J.C. first job out of high school was with a grain exporting firm. That experience led to his introduction to Mansfield three years later with the Goemann Grain Co., operated ty Henry L. Goemann, an elevator owner.
J.C. was 22 years old when he went back to Baltimore and enrolled at Deichman Prep School. He later matriculated to Lehigh University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering in 1910. He earned a number of patents in the metallurgical and pumping fields.
However, he was called back to Mansfield, for good, by a girl. Gorman met and married Ruth Barnes, the only daughter of T.R. Barnes, the owner of Barnes Manufacturing Co., which produced pumps and bathtubs in Mansfield.
At Barnes, J.C. became the head salesman and soon met Herb Rupp, one of the company’s engineers. In 1933, after Barnes Manufacturing went under, both men were laid off.
However, Rupp had a concept for a self-priming pump. Gorman’s role was to sell it. Despite being out of work and out of money, the duo shook hands, accepted a $1,500 stake from industrialist Frank Black at the Ohio Brass Co., and started the Gorman-Rupp Company in a barn on Alta Road on the outskirts of Mansfield.
They had a simple mission statement: “To provide a quality product competitively priced, delivered on time, backed by reliable service, at a profit that provides an equitable return to our shareholders, as well as providing our employees with competitive wages and benefits.” – J.C. Gorman & H.E. Rupp
Their product was a pump which had a “non-clogging” feature. Their competitors didn’t believe it, and said as much in a pointed public awareness campaign, claiming the new pump would not work.
This campaign to discredit the new design resulted in about $100,000 worth of “free advertising” for the young company — and at least one customer was ready to take them up on their claim.
National Ice Company purchased the first pump. It worked perfectly, with its capabilities outperforming any other self-priming centrifugal pump previously invented. Gorman-Rupp’s future was born.
As the company grew, it expanded via acquisitions, and J.C.’s business acumen came to the fore.
In 1942, the Gorman-Rupp team created the first commercially-available solids-handling trash pump. In 1968, the company produced the first fiberglass, below-ground, factory-built sewage pumping station.
J.C. confided to friends that one of his proudest moments came in October, 1965, when he was one of six people to receive the honorary degree of doctor of engineering from Lehigh University.
Meanwhile, Gorman-Rupp is alive and well in Mansfield to this day, and employs the fourth generation family members of both J.C. and Herb.
“You use Gorman-Rupp pumps, you just don’t know about it,” said J.C.’s grandson Jeff Gorman, executive chairman of Gorman-Rupp and the former CEO. “We’re behind the scenes.”
Gorman-Rupp’s 825,000-square-foot manufacturing facility near Lahm Airport on the far north side of Mansfield is the corporate headquarters. It accommodates the most advanced technology available and features state-of-the-art, fully automated machining centers while providing high-speed, high-quality machining of pump castings.
Today Gorman-Rupp is one of the leading pump manufacturers in the world. It makes pumps for the construction, agricultural, fire, and municipal markets. The company has 11 subsidiaries, 20 global locations, and employs 1,450 workers worldwide.
It sells to 140 countries, is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and has recorded 52 consecutive years of annual dividend increases.
“I think it would be really neat if you could bring them back for a couple of days,” Jeff Gorman said. They would be blown out of their minds of what Gorman-Rupp is today versus what it was back in 1933 at their start.”
J.C. Gorman died in 1970, survived by his wife and two children, and a company that has employed thousands of north central Ohio residents since its inception in 1933.