Whiteboard
Albert Stallion invented whiteboards while working at Alliance in the 1960s. Alliance (now known as PolyVision) produced enameled steel for architectural cladding, but Stallion noted it could also potentially be used as a writing surface. Stallion later left Alliance to form his own whiteboard production company, MagiBoards.
Hardboard
A product resembling hardboard was first made in England in 1898 by hot pressing waste paper. In the 1900s, fiber building board of relatively low density was manufactured in Canada. In the early 1920s, improved methods of compressing wet wood pulp at high temperatures resulted in a higher density product.