Eureka Vacuum Bags

Eureka Vacuum Cleaner History and Information

In 1909 Fred Wardell of Detroit, Michigan launched a vacuum cleaner company that soon acquired a worldwide reputation for high quality products, excellent relations with its customer and dealers, and solid marketing programs. That reputation continues today, with Eureka ranking as a major leader in home cleaning products.

While many of the other early vacuum cleaners were clumsy and difficult to maneuver, the first Eureka's were sleek, lightweight and versatile. For example, the 1913 Eureka came in six different models and had attachments for bare floors, walls, upholstery and crevices. It even could be used as a blower for drying hair.

In less than a decade, Eureka established itself as a leader in the industry. In 1915, it was awarded the Grand Prize by a jury of electrical experts at the San Francisco International Exposition -- the highest award for a vacuum cleaner at that time.

By 1919, the firm was headquartered in the first volume production factory devoted exclusively to vacuum cleaners. Covering 3.5 acres in downtown Detroit, the factory had a production capacity of 2,000 cleaners a day. By 1927, Eureka was selling one-third of all vacuum cleaners produced in the United States.

Eureka moved its headquarters to Bloomington, Illinois in 1945 and added new products, manufacturing oil burners and government defense items.  In 1961, the company even manufactured a battery-operated automobile called the Henney Kilowatt.  Eureka today concentrates its entire energies on the manufacture of vacuum cleaners and other home and commercial cleaning products.

When the firm merged with the Williams Oil-O-Matic company in Bloomington, Illinois in 1945, it became Eureka-Williams, a name it held until 1974 when it changed its name to the Eureka Company.  In 1960, the then Eureka-Williams Company merged with National Union Electric Corp.  In 1974, it was purchased by AB Electrolux of Sweden.  

Eureka continues to expand. A manufacturing and warehouse facility was built in 1974 in Normal, Illinois.  That facility was expanded in 1997 but later closed. In 1981, a plant for parts manufacture was opened in Juarez, Mexico. In 1983, a manufacturing plant was developed in El Paso, Texas with production starting 
in 1984. The El Paso factory was expanded in 1997 and a new distribution center was completed. The manufacturing and distribution facility in El Paso, Texas is now the largest vacuum cleaner manufacturing facility in the world.