BLACKTON INC. CELEBRATES 60TH ANNIVERSARY

ORLANDO, Fla. – Blackton Inc. is celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year. The roofing and flooring company supplies homebuilders from Jacksonville to Tampa. Michael “Micky” Blackton, said his father Charles launched the roofing and flooring supply company the first week of May in 1954 in a warehouse next to the train tracks on Alden Rd. near Ivanhoe antique row. They’re still there. Blackton started with a staff of four: Arthur Johnson, warehouseman, Gus Robertson, office manager, Vivian Mims sales associate, and Charles Blackton himself was both a salesman and truck driver for his company. Upon opening Blackton Inc. was a distributor for Owens-Corning shingles, metal roofing sheets and gutter systems. Then items consisting of all varieties of roofing and flooring were added gradually over the years. Blackton Sr.’s three sons worked for him during the summers on the trucks, in the warehouse and in the office. Now Micky and his brother Bruce Blackton head the company. He’s worked at the company everyday since he was a teenager and he loves it. “We’ve had some slow times thanks to the economy but we consolidated and survived,” Blackton said. Sales this year are up more than 60 percent over last year, Blackton added. The company currently employs 58.