OUR STORY
Covering the Outdoors for Over a Century
Our journey into the outdoors began with products ranging from rugged canvas wagon covers and horse blankets to custom camp tents and store-front awnings – all crafted in our Binghamton, NY workshop. Quality and durability has always been our trademark.
NEW OUTDOOR HORIZONS
Bigger and better…at home and abroad… from the backwoods to the battlefields, and scientific expeditions to mountaintop adventures – we were there.
Teddy Roosevelt ushered in the 20th century by igniting American’s interest in the country’s natural wonders and beauty, creating the National Park System to ensure preservation and public enjoyment of its rich, ecological diversity. By the 1930s we expanded and modernized manufacturing facilities to keep up with growing demand. And by 1940 we were a leader in expansive, hand-crafted special occasion tents for parties, weddings, fairs, commencements and more…and remain one today.
CALL TO DUTY
We answered Uncle Sam’s call-to-action in World War II by devoting every resource to making large all-purpose field tents to serve as operation centers, barracks, mess halls and hospitals for U.S. forces across Europe, Africa and the Pacific. And when those millions of GIs came home to a housing shortage, Eureka! turned its attention to the home front, supplying awnings for the multitude of mobile homes that were purchased.
At the turn of the decade, Eureka! fabricated and erected the IBM “tent cities” just outside Binghamton, NY. The seven acres of Eureka! tents housed thousands of IBM salesmen during the company's annual stockholders meeting which had outgrown its previous locale.
POST WAR AMERICA
Post-war America quickly focused on building and strengthening infrastructure. Notably, the Interstate Highway System opened up the country coast-to-coast to anything on wheels. Urban Americans took to the open road en masse, and an ever-growing number set their sites on weekend destinations and summer family vacations outdoors around the campfire. As popularity soared for our new and unique, light-weight and sturdy fabric tents, Eureka! became available in retail stores nationwide.
AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD
In 1960, Eureka!'s new and innovative Draw-Tite® tent, with its practical, free standing external frame, travelled with Sir Edmund Hillary—the first person documented to summit Mt. Everest only six years earlier—in a Himalayan Expedition to Nepal. Then in 1963, Eureka! made history: in the first all American Mt. Everest expedition, sixty Draw-Tite® tents sheltered participants from fierce 60+ mph winds and temperatures below -20°F as James W. Whittaker and others summited the mountain.
1963 EVEREST EXPEDITION
A DEEPER OUTDOOR CONNECTION
Under new owner - Sam Johnson, legendary American businessman and heralded environmentalist – our spirit of adventure and innovation was renewed during the 1970s. Eureka! Timberline®, the first ever, free-standing lightweight backpacking tent was a marriage of high-tech design and cutting-edge textiles, and a favorite among the rapidly growing community of backpackers across North America. The Timberline® marked the beginning of a long-standing relationship with the Boy Scouts of America that continues today.
THE VIEW FROM THE TOP
During the 1980s, camping as an outdoor social activity was in full stride in North America and Eureka! was there to meet the need. Eureka! StormShield tents continued to protect climbers on the world’s highest peaks, including American- and Canadian-led expeditions to: Dhaulagiri I (1980), Yalungkang (a.k.a., Kangchenjunga) (1981), Everest (1982), Ama Dablam (1982), Makalu (1983), and Everest (1983). And when the first Canadian woman (1986) and American woman (1988) summited Everest, Eureka! was there.
MYSTERY DETECTIVES
In 1924, English adventurers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine vanished without a trace while attempting a summit of Everest. In 1999 and again in 2001, Eric Simonson led research expeditions to determine what happened to them and Eureka! Tents sheltered his teams against the frigid and gale-force wind conditions. Simonson made history in finding Mallory’s remains and retrieved amazing historical artifacts now on display in the Smithsonian, but the mystery behind the tragedy is yet to be solved.
A LONG TIME COMING
On April 28, 2004, world-famous adventurer and geophysicist Pasquale Scaturro and his international team of explorers completed the first-ever single, uninterrupted navigation of the entire Blue Nile. The team chose Eureka! K-2 XT and Kahuna tents as their exclusive shelters during their 4 month, 3,060 mile journey. The historic voyage, including battles with crocodiles, hippos, bandits, and numerous arrests was chronicled in a large format movie titled “Mystery of the Nile”, produced by MacGillivray Freeman Films and Orbita Max. Visit the official web site for the exciting details!
C’MON, WE’LL TAKE YOU THERE…
We’ve expanded our product line beyond tents with stoves, sleeping bags, sleeping pads and more.
