SB Fuller House (Robbins, Illinois)
USA /
Illinois /
Robbins /
Robbins, Illinois /
South Kedzie Avenue, 13500
World
/ USA
/ Illinois
/ Robbins
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Samuel B. Fuller was born on June 4, 1905 in Monroe, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana to a family of sharecroppers. Due to extreme poverty, Samuel had to drop out of school in the sixth grade to work and help support the family. He began selling products door to door at the age of nine, which would help him later on as a budding entrepreneur.
As a teenager, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Because of the passing of his mother and no father around, Samuel and his six siblings had to fend for themselves. It can be said that these hard times is what gave him the will to succeed in business. In 1928 he moved to Chicago, working odd jobs before gaining employment as an insurance representative for CommonWealth Burial Association, an African American firm. He had a secure job during the Depression but decided to make it on his own preferring freedom to security.
After borrowing $25 using his car as collateral. He along with his future wife Lestine Thornton invested in a load of soap from Boyer International Laboratories which manufactured Cosmetics products during this time. Their success selling door to door prompted them to invest another $1000. By 1929 Fuller Products was incorporated and in four years, in the midst of the Depression, he grew his company to a line of 30 products and began to hire additional salespeople.
The Great Migration proved beneficial to the Fuller’s as many Black Americans moved north to cities like Chicago for better opportunities. These became the core customer base from which they were able to see tremendous expansion. By 1939 they were able to open up a factory. In 1947, the Fullers purchased Boyer International Industries to prevent it from entering into bankruptcy, but kept their ownership a secret. This allowed them to further expand into deodorant, hosiery as well as hair and skin care and men suits. Several newspapers were purchased including the New York Age and the Pittsburgh Courier. They expanded to owning department stores and the Regal Theater in Chicago.
By the 1950’s Samuel Fuller was known as the richest Black American man in the United States. The Fuller Products brand had $18 million in sales and a dedicated sales force of five thousand. Many of which would go on to build their own cosmetic empires and become wildly successful on their own.
However, his fortunes began to change in the 1960’s. A white supremacist group known as the white citizens council began to boycott Fuller’s Nadal Products, once it came to light that a Black couple owned Boyer Laboratories. This didn’t hurt the Fuller name too much as his customer base was the Black community, not the white consumer. But then some comments he made when inducted into the National Association of Manufacturers in 1963 began to turn public sentiment against him in the Black community. During his acceptance speech he stated: Many Black leaders began to boycott his products which caused severe setbacks for the Fuller Brand name.
Further setbacks came as a result of unregistered promissory notes in Interstate Commerce which got him in trouble for violating the Federal Security Act. He pled guilty and had to repay $1.6 million to creditors which cause Fuller Products to file for bankruptcy to protect their assets in 1971. The company did reorganize and bounce back in 1972, but never to its peak in the 1950’s.
Due to declining health in 1976 he asked two of his protégés, who had built their own cosmetics empire, Joe and Eunice Dudley of Dudley Products to take over the Fuller name and keep it in the Black community. They successfully carried out his wishes before ultimately buying and absorbing Fuller brands into the Dudley name four years before Samuel Fuller’s death at age 83 on Oct 24, 1988.
SB Fuller built his 4,000 square foot mansion in Robbins in 1958. On his death the property passed to his wife Lestine who died in 1999. Other family members manage the home until 2016 when the mansion was donated to the Robbins Historical Society and Museum. Unfortunately, the Fuller home had been neglected for many years and was in poor repair. The Robbins Historical Society and Museum received a Landmarks Illinois grant to mothball and stabilize the structure with repairs identified in an economic feasibility study that will be completed using funds from a National Trust for Historic Preservation grant.
As a teenager, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Because of the passing of his mother and no father around, Samuel and his six siblings had to fend for themselves. It can be said that these hard times is what gave him the will to succeed in business. In 1928 he moved to Chicago, working odd jobs before gaining employment as an insurance representative for CommonWealth Burial Association, an African American firm. He had a secure job during the Depression but decided to make it on his own preferring freedom to security.
After borrowing $25 using his car as collateral. He along with his future wife Lestine Thornton invested in a load of soap from Boyer International Laboratories which manufactured Cosmetics products during this time. Their success selling door to door prompted them to invest another $1000. By 1929 Fuller Products was incorporated and in four years, in the midst of the Depression, he grew his company to a line of 30 products and began to hire additional salespeople.
The Great Migration proved beneficial to the Fuller’s as many Black Americans moved north to cities like Chicago for better opportunities. These became the core customer base from which they were able to see tremendous expansion. By 1939 they were able to open up a factory. In 1947, the Fullers purchased Boyer International Industries to prevent it from entering into bankruptcy, but kept their ownership a secret. This allowed them to further expand into deodorant, hosiery as well as hair and skin care and men suits. Several newspapers were purchased including the New York Age and the Pittsburgh Courier. They expanded to owning department stores and the Regal Theater in Chicago.
By the 1950’s Samuel Fuller was known as the richest Black American man in the United States. The Fuller Products brand had $18 million in sales and a dedicated sales force of five thousand. Many of which would go on to build their own cosmetic empires and become wildly successful on their own.
However, his fortunes began to change in the 1960’s. A white supremacist group known as the white citizens council began to boycott Fuller’s Nadal Products, once it came to light that a Black couple owned Boyer Laboratories. This didn’t hurt the Fuller name too much as his customer base was the Black community, not the white consumer. But then some comments he made when inducted into the National Association of Manufacturers in 1963 began to turn public sentiment against him in the Black community. During his acceptance speech he stated: Many Black leaders began to boycott his products which caused severe setbacks for the Fuller Brand name.
Further setbacks came as a result of unregistered promissory notes in Interstate Commerce which got him in trouble for violating the Federal Security Act. He pled guilty and had to repay $1.6 million to creditors which cause Fuller Products to file for bankruptcy to protect their assets in 1971. The company did reorganize and bounce back in 1972, but never to its peak in the 1950’s.
Due to declining health in 1976 he asked two of his protégés, who had built their own cosmetics empire, Joe and Eunice Dudley of Dudley Products to take over the Fuller name and keep it in the Black community. They successfully carried out his wishes before ultimately buying and absorbing Fuller brands into the Dudley name four years before Samuel Fuller’s death at age 83 on Oct 24, 1988.
SB Fuller built his 4,000 square foot mansion in Robbins in 1958. On his death the property passed to his wife Lestine who died in 1999. Other family members manage the home until 2016 when the mansion was donated to the Robbins Historical Society and Museum. Unfortunately, the Fuller home had been neglected for many years and was in poor repair. The Robbins Historical Society and Museum received a Landmarks Illinois grant to mothball and stabilize the structure with repairs identified in an economic feasibility study that will be completed using funds from a National Trust for Historic Preservation grant.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 41°38'49"N 87°41'58"W
- Robbins Heritage Park 0.1 km
- M&M Pallet 1.2 km
- Modern Drop Forge 1.3 km
- 13636 South Western Avenue 1.4 km
- A Reliable Auto Parts 1.8 km
- Wigboldy Materials 2 km
- Harvey Pallets 2.1 km
- Fairways of Blue Island 2.6 km
- Chicago, Rock & Island & Pacific Railroad Yard 3.3 km
- Stony Creek Area (East) 4 km
- Robbins Heritage Park 0.3 km
- Robbins Heritage Park 0.3 km
- Robbins Incinerator 0.3 km
- Poole's Pull Apart & Towing 0.4 km
- Robbins Incinerator 0.4 km
- Four Star Auto Parts 0.5 km
- Iowa Interstate Railroad, Evans Yard 0.8 km
- Cal Sag Channel 0.9 km
- BLUE ISLAND Interlocking 1 km
- Clark Oil Refinery 1.1 km