Colgate & Co. was located at 55 John Street New York. Established 1806. Richard M. Colgate, Gilbert Colgate, Sidney M. Colgate, Austen Colgate.
Key Dates:
1806:
Company is founded by William Colgate in New York to make starch, soap, and candles.
1857:
After founder's death, company becomes known as Colgate & Company.
1873:
Toothpaste is first marketed.
1896:
Collapsible tubes for toothpaste are introduced.
1898:
B.J. Johnson Soap Company (later renamed Palmolive Company) introduces Palmolive soap.
1910:
Colgate moves from original location to Jersey City, New Jersey.
1926:
Palmolive merges with Peet Brothers, creating Palmolive-Peet Company.
1928:
Colgate and Palmolive-Peet merge, forming Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company.
1947:
Fab detergent and Ajax cleanser are introduced.
1953:
Company changes its name to Colgate-Palmolive Company.
1956:
Corporate headquarters shifts back to New York.
1966:
Palmolive dishwashing liquid is introduced.
1967:
Sales top $1 billion.
1968:
Colgate toothpaste is reformulated with fluoride; Ultra Brite is introduced.
1976:
Hill's Pet Products is purchased.
1987:
The Softsoap brand of liquid soap is acquired.
1992:
The Mennen Company is acquired; Total toothpaste is introduced overseas.
1995:
Latin American firm Kolynos Oral Care is acquired; Colgate-Palmolive undergoes major restructuring.
1997:
Total toothpaste is launched in the United States; Colgate takes lead in domestic toothpaste market.
2004:
Company acquires European oral care firm GABA Holding AG; major restructuring is launched.
Colgate Company of Jersey City, NJ from 1879 to 1959.
Colgate & Company had been a pioneer in establishing international operations, creating a Canadian subsidiary in 1913 and one in France in 1920. In the early 1920s the firm expanded into Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Mexico. Colgate or its successor firm next created subsidiaries in the Philippines, Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa in the late 1920s. In 1937 the company moved into India and by the end of the 1940s had operations in most of South America. By 1939 Colgate-Palmolive-Peet's sales hit $100 million.![]()
The Colgate's Soap and Perfumery Works, later Colgate-Palmolive, was founded in 1806 by William Colgate. Colgate, an English immigrant, set up a starch, soap and candle business on Dutch Street in New York City. Frances Smith was made a partner in the following year and the firm became Smith and Colgate. William Colgate bought out his partner in 1813, the name was then changed to William Colgate & Co.The company moved from New York to NJ and the factory was completed in 1847.
The name Colgate & Company was first adopted in 1857, after the death of William Colgate. Colgate & Company began getting into fragrance and calling themselves perfumers in 1866. In 1866, the company introduced perfumed soap and began the manufacture of perfumes and essences. Six years later Cashmere Bouquet, the first milled perfumed toilet soap, was registered as a trademark. Colgate & Company produced its first toothpaste, an aromatic dental cream sold in jars.
Then, in 1896, the Colgate company made toothpaste much more convenient to use by introducing the first collapsible toothpaste tube, one similar to those in use today. Meanwhile in Milwaukee, the B.J Johnson Soap Company, founded in 1864, was about to change its destiny. In 1898, the company introduced Palmolive Soap, a product that was so successful it prompted B.L. Johnson to change its name to the Palmolive Company in 1916.
By its 100th anniversary, Colgate & Company, was manufacturing dental care products, laundry soaps, 160 different kinds of toilet soap and 625 varieties of perfume. The US Palmolive Company was expanding too. In 1926, it merged with the soap manufacturers Peet Brothers in Kansas City to form Palmolive-Peet Company. Two years later, this company merged with Colgate & Company and the new entity was known as the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company.
By 1872, Colgate was trademarking its fragrances and using bottles which bore a Colgate trademark symbol.
Perfumers:
William P. Ungerer served as Colgate's chemist perfumer until 1893, when he left to establish his own company, manufacturing and supplying essential oils, known as Ungerer & Co.
He was one of the oldest experts in perfumery in America and had been the Dean of American Perfumery. Mr Ungerer was born in Basle, Switzerland March 30, 1833, and in his early youth showed a taste for the perfumery business, but his inclinations did not meet with the approval of his father, and on this account, he left home and went to Paris, where he took up the study of perfumery and pharmacy at La Pharmacie Centrale de France. Later, he went to the south of France, and with the opportunities at hand, in that section, soon developed some of his original ideas on the manufacture of perfumery, which obtained for him, a position as assistant perfumer in Paris with the firm of Pinaud. On the death of Ed Pinaud, he became chief perfumer. Later, Mr. Ungerer was appointed private perfumer to the Emperor of Austria, who had a laboratory for making perfumery for the court.
In 1865, Mr. Ungerer came over to Philadelphia, then the home of American perfumery, on a visit. He was not satisfied with business conditions there, and was on the point of going back to Europe when he was induced by a friend to go to Rochester, and it was in that city that he founded the firm of NO Vosburgh & Co (Star Chemical Works), manufacturers of perfumes, soaps, and toilet articles. In 1872, he entered the employ of Colgate & Co as chief perfumer, remaining with that house for twenty-one years, at the end of which on account of poor health, he entered the essential oil business as American representative of Roure Bertram Fils, his eldest son William G. Ungerer taking his place as chief perfumer for Colgate & Co. Three years later, young Ungerer joined his father in the essential oil business which was incorporated in 1901. He belonged to the Drug and Chemical Club and the Manufacturing Perfumers Association of the United States.
In 1950, Stephen G. Capkovitz was appointed the chief chemist and perfumer for Prince Matchabelli. Stephen G. Capkovitz (Feb 12, 1917 - Dec 23, 1988), also worked for Seaforth Inc (who was owned by Vicks) and the Sofskin Company in the 1950s. In 1958, Vicks sold Prince Matchabelli to Chesebrough-Ponds.
Formerly, he was chief chemist for Yardley, and was associated in similar capacity with Albert Verley and Co, and then head of the perfumery division of the research and development for Colgate-Palmolive-Peet/Jeurelle Seventeen in 1952. He was assistant perfumer for Norda Essential Oil & Chemical Co. Norda used many of the H. Carles raw materials as evidenced by vintage 1950s photographs of the factory interiors. He was a graduate of New York University and continued studies at Columbia University and the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.
He joined SB Penick & Co of New York in January of 1957 as a technical sales representative and was promoted to manager of the perfume, flavor and aromatic chemicals division a few months later. He was still employed at the company in 1961.
Capkovitz was also a member of the Society of Flavor Chemists, and the American Oil Chemists Society in 1940, as well as the American Institute of Chemists where he was elected in 1951.
In 1978, I see that Capkovitz was the director of fragrance research at the Warner-Jenkinson Company at their new plant in Carlstadt, NJ housing Warner-Jenkinson East, Inc and Creative Perfumers. This facility provided eastern clients with FD&C colors, flavors and fragrances.
Perfume List:
I have listed all the Colgate perfumes I have been able to find, I do know that 625 perfumes were available by 1920, so if there is one I missed, please let me know. Thanks
The following pictures shown below are from an old 1891 Colgate catalog.
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The following pictures shown below are from an old 1901 Colgate catalog.
The perfumes of Colgate:
- 1872 Cashmere Bouquet
- 1872 Elder Flower
- 1872 Jockey Club
- 1872 Marshmallow
- 1872 May Blossom
- 1872 Musk
- 1872 Musk Lavender
- 1872 Patchouly
- 1872 Primrose
- 1872 Rondeletia
- 1872 Rose
- 1872 Rose Geranium
- 1872 Verbena
- 1879 Wedding March Bouquet
- 1880 Ambrosial Perfume for the Bath
- 1880 Cassie
- 1880 Heliotrope
- 1880 Heliotrope Toilet Water
- 1881 Bouquet de Caroline
- 1881 Bridal Bouquet
- 1881 Damask Rose
- 1881 Lily of the Valley
- 1881 Magnolia
- 1881 May Flower
- 1881 Musk Rose
- 1881 New Mown Hay
- 1881 Night Blooming Cereus
- 1883 Caprice
- 1886 Speciosa
- 1886 Speciosa Toilet Water
- 1887 Apple Blossom
- 1887 Blush Rose
- 1887 Ess Bouquet
- 1887 Fleur d Orange
- 1887 Four Seasons
- 1887 Frangipanni
- 1887 Garden Flowers
- 1887 Gardenia
- 1887 Italian Violet
- 1887 Jasmin
- 1887 Jonquil
- 1887 Kiss me quick
- 1887 Lavender Toilet Water
- 1887 Lilium Auratum
- 1887 Lotos Blossom
- 1887 Meadow Flowers
- 1887 Mignonette
- 1887 Millefleurs
- 1887 Moss Rose
- 1887 Multiflora Toilet Water
- 1887 Opoponax
- 1887 Pansy Blossom
- 1887 Pond Lily
- 1887 Rosodora Toilet Water
- 1887 Spring Flowers
- 1887 Souvenir
- 1887 Stephanotis
- 1887 Sweet Brier
- 1887 Sweet Clover
- 1887 Sweet Pea
- 1887 Sweet Pink
- 1887 Sweet Sixteen
- 1887 Tea Rose
- 1887 Tuberose
- 1887 Upper Ten
- 1887 Violet Toilet Water
- 1887 West End
- 1887 White Heliotrope
- 1887 White Lilac
- 1887 White Rose
- 1887 White Violet
- 1887 Wood Violet
- 1887 Ylang Ylang
- 1889 La France Rose
- 1889 Pansy Blossom
- 1890 Coleo
- 1890 Violet Water
- 1890 May Bells
- 1890 White Rose
- 1890 White Violet
- 1890 Fleurette
- 1891 Apple Blossom
- 1891 Ess. Bouquet
- 1891 Frangipanni
- 1891 Gardenia
- 1891 Heliotrope
- 1891 Italian Violets
- 1891 Jasmin
- 1891 Lilium Auratum
- 1891 Lotos Blossom
- 1891 May Blossom
- 1891 Mignonette
- 1891 Millefleurs
- 1891 Moss Rose
- 1891 Mountain Violets
- 1891 Opoponax
- 1891 Pansy Blossom
- 1891 Reception Bouquet
- 1891 Souvenir
- 1891 Stephanotis
- 1891 Sweet Lavender
- 1891 Sweet Pea
- 1891 Tea Rose
- 1891 Tonquin Musk
- 1891 Violet
- 1891 West End
- 1891 White Heliotrope
- 1891 White Lilac
- 1891 Ylang Ylang
- 1894 Crab Apple Blossom
- 1895 White Clematis
- 1895 Bay Rum
- 1897 Vioris
- 1900 Young People's Perfumes (set)
- 1900 Christmas Bouquet
- 1900 Eclat
- 1900 Holiday Bouquet
- 1900 Splendor
- 1900 Violet Water
- 1901 Carnation
- 1901 Dactylis
- 1901 Lilac Imperial
- 1901 Monad Violet
- 1901 Peau d'Espagne
- 1901 Robinia
- 1901 Sandalwood
- 1901 Trailing Arbutus
- 1903 Viodora
- 1903 Alba
- 1903 Coronel
- 1903 Dermal
- 1903 Quinol
- 1903 Rosodora
- 1904 Fantasy
- 1904 Week-End
- 1905 Knickerbocker
- 1906 Carnival Violets
- 1907 Frisia
- 1907 La France Rose
- 1908 Eleda
- 1910 Lilac Imperial Toilet Water
- 1910 Caprice Toilet Water
- 1911 Corylopsis
- 1911 Cut Roses
- 1911 Royal Shamrock
- 1912 Florient
- 1914 Radiant Rose
- 1914 Splendor
- 1915 Eclat
- 1915 Violette di Mai
- 1915 Vision de Fleurs
- 1917 Cha Ming
- 1917 Les Fleurs Favorites
- 1917 Orange Perfume
- 1920 Dawn
- 1920 Myself
- 1921 Allegro
- 1921 Atta
- 1921 Clair de Lune
- 1921 Florient
- 1921 Hope
- 1921 Piquante
- 1921 Princess Harran
- 1921 Sandalay
- 1921 The Unknown Flower
- 1922 Alba Violet
- 1922 Fi Fi
- 1922 La Liberte
- 1922 Orchis
- 1922 Pansy Blossom
- 1922 Roses From Araby
- 1922 Violette de Mai
- 1922 Violets From The Riviera
- 1923 Amarna
- 1923 Bast
- 1923 Egypt
- 1923 Kahira
- 1923 Khepera
- 1923 Watch Case
- 1924 Andor, reissued in 1954
- 1925 Colgate Fleurs
- 1926 Dona Flor
- 1926 Night
- 1926 Piquant
- 1927 Orchis
- 1928 Seventeen
- 1936 Parami
- 1949 Facade
- 1959 Man Trap
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