Raybestos-Manhattan Stratford Plant

History & Asbestos Use

Raybestos-Manhattan, led by asbestos-industry figure Sumner Simpson, operated its primary manufacturing plant in Stratford, Connecticut beginning in the early 1900s. The plant became one of the nation's largest producers of asbestos brake linings, clutch facings, and industrial friction products. Internal company records, the Sumner Simpson papers, later revealed that Raybestos executives were aware of the dangers of asbestos exposure as early as the 1930s. The plant site was designated an EPA Superfund location due to extensive asbestos contamination in soil and groundwater, and cleanup has continued for decades.

Exposure Details

This plant did not merely use asbestos — it processed raw asbestos fiber as its primary raw material, which made it among the most heavily exposed workplaces in American industry. Workers opened bales of raw chrysotile and fed it into the production line: fiber handlers and mixing operators blended it with binders, weavers and molding-press operators formed it into brake linings and clutch facings, and grinding, beveling, drilling, and finishing operations cut the cured parts to spec. The grinding and beveling stages generated enormous quantities of fine asbestos dust, and because the fiber was the product itself, dust was present throughout the plant — not confined to insulated equipment as at a refinery or power plant. Production workers breathed raw fiber daily, often with little or no respiratory protection for most of the plant's history. Waste asbestos was dumped on plant grounds and used as fill in the surrounding neighborhood, creating community exposure beyond the workforce, and fibers carried home on workers' clothing exposed their families through take-home (secondary) exposure.

Workers at Risk

The following job categories at Raybestos-Manhattan Stratford Plant had the highest risk of asbestos exposure:

• Raw-fiber handlers
• Mixing and batch operators
• Weavers
• Molding-press operators
• Grinding and beveling operators
• Finishing and drilling workers
• Assembly workers
• Machine operators
• Maintenance mechanics
• Laborers

Health Effects

The Stratford plant is associated with exceptionally high rates of mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, and asbestosis among former workers, and community health studies found elevated cancer rates in neighborhoods where asbestos waste was used as fill. Because these diseases typically appear 20 to 50 years after first exposure, workers from the peak production era are still being diagnosed today, and family members and neighbors exposed to fiber have developed mesothelioma as well. The Raybestos case is considered a landmark in asbestos litigation history. A diagnosis is not the worker's fault: the company's knowledge of the hazard was documented, and an asbestos trust has been established to compensate those harmed.

Health information is based on established medical research on asbestos exposure. Asbestos is classified as a known human carcinogen by the National Cancer Institute, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Consult a physician for medical advice specific to your situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources:

• EPA Superfund records — accessed 2026-06-28
• Connecticut DEEP records — accessed 2026-06-28
• Sumner Simpson papers — accessed 2026-06-28
• Asbestos litigation discovery documents — accessed 2026-06-28