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Cincinnati’s Good, Clean Company William Proctor and James Gamble emigrated from different parts of Great Britain to the United States in the early 1800s. Both men were headed for the American West, but their travels ended in Cincinnati. In that city, they married sisters and, in 1837, established a new enterprise called The Procter & Gamble Company. It produced candles and soap, for Procter was a candle maker and Gamble a soap maker. During the Civil War, Procter & Gamble supplied soap and candles to Union armies. These orders kept the factory busy and built the company’s reputation. The company flourished, and it even pioneered one of the nation’s first profit-sharing programs. In 1879, Procter & Gamble introduced one of its most enduring products: Ivory® soap. James Norris Gamble, son of the founder and a trained chemist, developed Ivory as an inexpensive white soap equal to highquality, imported castile soap. The product’s name was inspired by the Biblical phrase “out of ivory palaces.” But when the company began to receive reorders for Ivory, the requests were for more “floating soap.” According to legend, an employee who was making Ivory forgot to shut off the soap-making machine when he went to lunch. He returned to find a puffed-up, frothy mixture. Because the longer mixing time had not changed the ingredients, the soap was shipped as usual. When customers used this batch of soap for washing, the bars floated in water. Recent evidence from inventor notes, however, suggests that the younger Gamble may have intended Ivory soap to be buoyant all along. Today, Ivory floats because a small amount of air is intentionally whipped into each bar. Ivory is also the preferred brand for soap carvers. The 2006 Guinness Book of World Records lists the world’s largest soap sculpture, a 7,000-pound, 5-foot-by-6foot winged pig, as being carved from a block of Ivory soap. Another famous first for Procter & Gamble came in 1961 with the invention of the disposable diaper. Pampers® made the messy, smelly task of soaking, washing, and drying cloth diapers a thing of the past for busy new parents. Today, the Procter & Gamble Company continues to be a world leader in innovation, cleanliness and convenience.
An 1880s illustration of Ivory® soap (courtesy of The Procter & Gamble Company)
Words to Know: emigrated flourished frothy enterprise castile soap buoyant innovation For Discussion: 1. William Proctor came to the U.S. from England. James Gamble came from Ireland. What events in their native lands may have prompted them to leave in the early 1800s? 2. Some people say disposable diapers are not good for the environment. Others say that using disposable diapers is less harmful than the process of cleaning cloth diapers. Research the use of disposable vs. cloth. What are the pros and cons of each method?
Newspaper Activity: Beginning in 1886, The Procter & Gamble Company featured drawings and photographs of babies in their advertising for Ivory® soap. What message was the company trying to convey? Look through today’s newspaper for ads that feature a photo or drawing. Why do you think the advertiser chose the image? “Ohio: The Inside Story” is produced through a grant from The Ohio Newspapers Foundation, a nonprofit charitable and educational organization affiliated with The Ohio Newspaper Association. This is one of a series of 24 Ohio profiles.
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