In the late 1890’s, when James Naismith was nailing up two peach baskets in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Stoehr family founded the Cincinnati Floor Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company developed a reputation for quality and craftsmanship extending into the current century. The Stoehr family’s earliest contribution to sports floor innovation began with the development of the Cincinnati "All-Star®" portable basketball floor in the early 1950’s. The All-Star® portable design was truly a product innovation that met the needs of the newly-found National Basketball Association—and a first of many in the Stoehr’s sports flooring history. In 1977, Jim Stoehr purchased the assets of Robbins Inc. from Cook Industries of Memphis, Tennessee to continue the manufacture of maple flooring for the sports and recreational industry worldwide, carrying with them the legacy of their Portable Flooring Division known today as the Robbins "All Star®."

The original Robbins Flooring Company was founded by the Abendroth family of Rhinelander, Wisconsin in the early 1920’s and operated the White Lake, WI and Ishpeming, MI plants to the early 1960’s where it was sold to the E. L. Bruce Company of Memphis, Tennessee. By the late 1960’s, the company’s assets were sold to Memphis-based, Cook Industries as Bruce divested its holdings to numerous entities including Triangle-Pacific, a manufacturer of kitchen cabinets.

Under the leadership of four generations of the Stoehr family, both plants manufactured random length strip maple and other maple flooring products. Along the way, Robbins introduced to the industry a number of innovative products, including Strip-Tite®—a patented "nailed-channel" design, Sportwood®, Bio-Cushion®, Bio-Channel® and more recently Air-Channel Star®, Mach I®, and Bio-Channel LP®.

In addition to revolutionary sub-floor design, Robbins also developed and refined the process of manufacturing an "engineered" maple strip utilizing a patented finger-jointing process. This product was developed and is marketed as Continuous Strip™ XL.

The experience of the Stoehr family in contracting, coupled with numerous employees with similar experience, assisted the company in recognizing the detrimental effects on installation efficiency brought about by changing hardwood grade rules and uncertain lumber resources. The Continuous Strip ™ XL Maple manufactured by Robbins continues to revolutionize the maple flooring industry by producing a "uniform length" maple floor. This consistent length flooring counters the efforts required to fasten the growing number of short boards manufactured in the older random-length process. In addition, the "engineered seam" method provides the owner a surface that is documented to increase overall flooring strength when used in both generic and proprietary flooring systems.

Robbins is also the driving force in bringing to the North American market a systematic method of measuring and quantifying the performance characteristics of today’s sport floors. Robbins’ desires to provide the facility owner measurable and objective evidence of performance enhancing bio-mechanical properties. Robbins’ investment in research led the way in the development of DIN 18032, Part 2 testing procedures being a widely recognized standard in North America. Until this Robbins-driven concept took shape in the U.S., only anecdotal evidence and occasional testing existed to compare the performance of sport floor systems.

In the past twelve years, and since its introduction in this country, the DIN Certification testing process has become the default standard by which floors are measured. It is now recognized and used by numerous purchasing bodies and has become the minimum standard for flooring performance published by the American College of Sports Medicine. All Robbins Sports Surfaces are tested and certified by either the Otto-Graf Institute at the University of Stuttgart, Germany or ASET Services, a Indiana-based testing laboratory founded by Paul Elliott, Ph.D. Both are third party laboratories and recognized by Robbins and the MFMA, primarily due to their commitment to impartial and effective industry certification.

Ninety percent of all floor failures are due to poor installation. The Stoehr family and Robbins have always stood for quality and service, and the company rigorously maintains its commitment to exceptional flooring products. Only a contractor trained in the installation of Robbins Sports Surfaces can be a member of the Robbins Authorized Dealer Network. Innovation, Longevity, and Trust are all Guaranteed when you choose Robbins. That’s why Robbins is the most trusted name in Sports Flooring.

Robbins—The Most Trusted Name in Sports Flooring™.