Vanished makers: Rockaway Metal Products Corporation, Ingwood, Long Island, New York

I keep picking up metal boxes in my ongoing efforts to frustrate mice in my barn and sheds.  This one was made by the Rockaway Metal Products Corporation, named for the area of Rockaway in the town of Inwood, just east of Brooklyn, New York.

In addition to such metal boxes, the company made a metal version similar to the "Rollodex" (U.S. Patent 3190707), and seems to have specialized in steel partitions for offices in the heyday of the much despised "open concept" approach to office space.  The company declared bankruptcy in 1987, and left behind a site heavily contaminated, including underground tanks full of toxic substances, several hundred rusty and leaking barrels full of other nasty stuff, including Xylene, a dry well, and an abandoned tanker truck.  Not surprisingly, the costs of cleaning this mess up was the subject of a law suit. 

They made good metal boxes.  But at what price?