L. M. Bickett was born May 1, 1883, in Xenia, Ohio, to George and Elizabeth S. Bickett. Although little is known of his educational background and early years, Bickett was first identified with the rubber industry in 1908. On June 8, 1911, he married Gertrude Barker. Two years later, Bickett organized the Xenia Rubber Manufacturing Co., in Xenia, Ohio. In 1917, he sold the Xenia company to a group of Milwaukee businessmen who then reorganized it as the Ever Wear Rubber Co. in Wisconsin, with Bickett as general manager. Rubtex Products, Inc., Indianapolis, bought Ever Wear in 1920 and transferred the business to Indiana. Bickett decided to remain in Wisconsin.
In the fall of 1920, Bickett accepted an offer from a group of Watertown, Wisconsin businessmen who had recently purchased the Pan American Rubber Co., West Allis, to organize the company in Watertown. In April 1921, the Bickett Rubber Products Corporation was formed, with Bickett as chief stockholder, director, and manager of the company. He held these positions until 1955.
From 1921 to 1930 the Bickett Rubber Products Corp. manufactured various products, specializing in stair treads and rubber heels. The company's main market was chain stores such as S.S. Kresge and Woolworth, and much of its product was shipped to the eastern part of the country. In order to expedite its shipping, the company established warehouses in Buffalo and Albany, New York, and in Pittsburgh.
In 1930 the company accepted an offer from a group of businessmen in Anderson, Indiana, to purchase a quarter interest in the company for 100,000 dollars. The next year the company moved to Anderson in expectation of receiving this new capital and to eliminate some of its warehouses. But, in October 1931, the Citizens Bank of Anderson, Indiana, the source of the new funds, failed, and Bickett decided to return to Wisconsin. He secured a release for the building and equipment that had remained in Watertown, and resumed manufacturing
operations there.
In order to secure this release and to re-equip the Watertown plant, Bickett personally assumed a debt of 73,000 dollars and borrowed 17,000 dollars more from the Falk Corp. in Milwaukee, which owned the diesel engine generating the power at the plant. In April 1932, the Bickett Rubber Products Corp. was reorganized under the new name of L.M. Bickett Co. The stock of the Bickett Rubber Products Corp. was exchanged for that of the new company without further investment required. This reorganization later became the basis of a long battle over taxes assessed on the profits of the L.M. Bickett Co.
In 1934 Bickett secured a patent on a new type of ventilated seat cushion called the “Respirator” and within a few years the company's business was on the increase. In 1938 Bickett purchased the interests of the Falk Co. and the equipment and real estate held by several bond holders, and thus became not only the chief stockholder of the company, but also its landlord. The upward trend in business continued until World War II brought production of commercial rubber products to a halt in 1941. During the war essential orders were obtained to keep the plant in operation, but the disruption of business both during and after the war brought serious financial problems to the company.
Sometime in 1943 or 1944 both the L.M. Bickett Co. and Bickett personally were assessed additional taxes. According to Helen Bickett Fiegel, Bickett's daughter, his personal tax problems involved a tax deduction unrelated to the operation of the company. The dispute over the company's taxes involved a basis for computing the net profits of the company after its reorganization.
Bickett maintained that until the financial statement of the L.M. Bickett Co. equaled the value of the investments of the original stockholders of the Bickett Rubber Products Corp. plus the value of the newly invested capital at the time of reorganization in 1932, there could be no net profits on which taxes were due. This issue remained unsettled until the fall of 1953, when an arrangement for payment was made. Payment was completed by the end of 1955.
The financial problems of the company were compounded by a series of internal organizational, management, and control problems during the early 1950s. The outcome of these problems was Bickett's resignation as president and director in January 1955. He severed his relationship with the company except as its landlord, although the company continued operation under the direction of his daughter and son-in-law, Ruth G. and W. A. Larson.
L.M. Bickett died May 4, 1958, and the company he founded went into bad standing sometime during the mid-1960s.
