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Ever wonder how the marvelous idea of crayons was introduced?
They were invented by two cousins, Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith. In 1864, Joseph W. Binney founded the Peekskill Chemical Company in Peekskill, N.Y. This company was responsible for products in the black and red color range. Around 1885, Joseph's son, Edwin Binney, and nephew, C. Harold Smith, formed the partnership of Binney & Smith. The cousins expanded the company's product line to include shoe polish and printing ink. In 1900, the company purchased a stone mill in Easton, PA, and began producing slate pencils for schools. This started Binney's and Smith's research into nontoxic and colorful drawing mediums for kids. In 1903, a new brand of crayons with superior working qualities was introduced, called Crayola® Crayons. The brand's first box in 1903 held 8 Crayola® crayons. The crayons were sold for only a nickel, and the colors were black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, yellow, and green. The word Crayola® was created by Alice Stead Binney (wife of Edwin Binney) who took the French words for chalk (craie) and oily (oleaginous) and combined them. Today, there are over one hundred different types of crayons being made by Crayola®, including crayons that: sparkle with glitter, glow in the dark, smell like flowers, change colors, and wash off walls and other surfaces and materials.
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Well,
we are going to tell you! Crayola® crayons were the first kids’
crayons ever made!