This year, the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) is celebrating a major milestone: 75 years of success and innovation! At the annual meeting, attendees received a commemorative storybook highlighting the industry’s greatest accomplishments since FPA’s inception in 1950. To honor this celebration, we’re launching a blog series that outlines key moments, decade by decade, that have shaped the flexible packaging landscape. First up is the 1950s – a time of post-war growth and advancements.
World Events
- The “Baby Boom” – The U.S. population reached 150 million, an increase of 14.5% since 1940 and expected to grow an additional 19% by 1960.
- 1952 – The U.S. detonates the first hydrogen bomb.
- 1953 – Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Korkay reach the summit of Mount Everest; the Korean War ends.
- 1954 – The Supreme Court orders an end to school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education; the Salk polio vaccination is introduced.
- 1957 – USSR orbits Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite.
- 1959 – Alaska and Hawaii become states.
FPA Milestones
1950 – Recognizing a need for improved communication and cooperation between packaging manufacturers and suppliers, the National Flexible Packaging Association (NFPA) was incorporated in Chicago, IL, by Bagcraft Corporation’s founder and first Chair, Albert A. Meister, Oneida Paper Products, R. E. Pentz, and Milprint’s R.E. Hanson. Hanson was named NFPA’s first President, and its offices were in the home of executive secretary R.K. Vinson.
1951 – The NFPA Headquarters moves from Chicago to Cleveland. The largest groups of members were in areas surrounding New York and Chicago, so Cleveland served as a good midway point. On September 12th, the first Annual Meeting is held at the Hotel Astor in New York City. By this time, the NFPA had more than 50 members – generating an annual volume of $150 million in the flexible packaging field.
1952 – The Association combines efforts with the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to measure the effect that prepackaging has on the sale of lettuce, seedless grapes in cellophane bags, and nearly ripe peaches.
1956 – NFPA initiates its inaugural The Packaging Awards (now Achievement Awards) competition in collaboration with the magazine Paper, Film, and Foil Converter. Six judges evaluated entries and chose the top packages across sixteen categories.
1958 – The Association holds its Annual Meeting in Boca Raton, FL. This location was extremely popular with the membership and continued to be a regular meeting site for the next 30 years.
Want to see more milestones and industry innovations from the 1950s? Check out our interactive timeline here!
