Roofing History Timeline and Other Landmark Events

3,000 BCE

Glazed clay roofing tiles were used in in China while flat earthenware roof tiles were used in Greece and Babylon.

356 BCE

Alexander III of Macedon was born and later conducted a lengthy military campaign through Western Asia, Central Asia and parts of South Asia and Egypt.

27 BCE

Romans used copper as a roof covering for the Pantheon.

1776 AD

The Declaration of Independence was signed to create The United States of America as an independent nation.

1820 AD

Commercial distribution of Welsh slate began.   Canals and railroads made it easier to transport.

1832 AD

Samuel Morse developed the concept of a single-wire telegraph.  Morse code, that he developed became the primary language of the telegraph.  Morse code is still the standard for rhythmic transmissions.

1877 AD

Thomas Edison invented the automatic repeater was invented with the ability to play back recorded sound.  The first phonographs recorded on tinfoil.

1892 AD

GAF was established and introduced the first ready-to-lay asphalt roll roofing product, known as “Ruberoid”.

1915 AD

The Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau was founded

1930 AD

Henry Reynolds invented Asphalt shingles to compete with wood shingles.  Many types of granules were used including mica, oyster shells, slate, dolomite, fly-ash silica and clay.  The base material was organic felt.

1969 AD

Neil Armstrong became the first human to step onto the surface of the moon.

2023 AD

GAF announced the reengineering and launch of Timberline Ultra High Definition (UHD) as Timberline UHDZ shingles.