Although asbestos use dates back at least 2,000 years, modern industrial use of asbestos in the United States began around 1880. Report on Carcinogens, Eleventh Edition; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Toxicology Program, 2005 (substance profile "Asbestos").  

The earliest decisions of the California appeals courts involve unspecified "public work" performed in the City and County of San Francisco in February of 1912; the first personal injury case against an asbestos company was published in 1931, although the injury case does not specify asbestos lung damage, or any other specific injury.  See, Asbestos Mfg. & Supply Co. v. American Bonding Co. of Baltimore (1914) 25 Cal. App. 641; see also Asbestos Mfg. & Supply Co. v. Lennig-Rapple Engineering Co. (1914) 26 Cal. App. 177 (a companion case); see also Lidberg v. E.T. Leiter & Son, et al (1931) 116 Cal.App. 312, 313-314 ("plaintiff commenced this action against the [defendant] ... Western Asbestos Magnesia Company in tort for damages resulting from said injuries").

U.S. demand for asbestos increased dramatically from 1900 to the early 1970s.  By 1950, the United States was the world's largest user of asbestos. (Virta, R. L. 2000. Asbestos. Mineral Yearbook. U.S. Geological Survey).

Use of asbestos in the United States peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as health and liability issues became apparent, asbestos demand declined rapidly after 1973.  (Id).

One footnote in a court decision described a veritable laundry list of items that commonly contained asbestos:

Due to the fire resistant, insulative and reinforcing properties of asbestos, asbestos bearing products were widely used in shipbuilding and repair and in the construction industry.   Asbestos was used in such products as textiles, paper, ropes, wicks, stoves, filters, floor tiles, roofing shingles, clutch facings, water pipe, cement, fillers, felt, fireproof clothing, gaskets, battery boxes, clapboard, wallboard, fire doors, fire curtains, and brake lining. It was also used for fire resistant partitions in schools, office buildings, hospitals and ships, as thermal insulation on structural steelwork, as acoustical insulation for walls and ceilings, as undersealing for automobiles, and as insulation for air conditioning, ducts, shafts, steam lines, oil lines, and chemical lines.   Asbestos was also used in ironing board covers, theatre scenery, hot air pipe wrapping, stove lining, table pads, handles and coatings of all sorts.  Vermeulen v. Superior Court (1988) 204 Cal.App.3d 1192, 1198-1199, fn 6 (internal citation omitted).