Kimberly-Clark Timeline: A Century and a Half
of Innovation
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E-mail1865 Thomas Seymour Scott and Otis H. Ballou start a wholesale paper business in Philadelphia called Ballou & Scott, a forerunner of Scott Paper Co.
1872 Wisconsin businessmen John A. Kimberly, Havilah Babcock, Charles B. Clark and Frank C. Shattuk partner together to begin their new endeavor, Kimberly, Clark & Co.
1874 Scott Paper Co. is founded in Philadelphia by brothers Thomas, Irvin and Clarence Scott and their cousins Thomas Seymour and Zerah Hoyt.
1878 Kimberly, Clark and other investors form the Atlas Paper Co., the first mill in Wisconsin to produce paper largely from ground pulp. Its first product: wrapping paper.
1907 Scott Paper invents Sani-Towels, the first disposable paper towel in America, for use in Philadelphia classrooms to help prevent the spread of the common cold.
1913 Scott begins to manufacture ScotTissue bathroom tissue.
1915 Scott Paper shares are first traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
1921 K-C introduces Kotex sanitary napkins, which, because of social taboos at the time, were sold in plainly wrapped boxes.
1924 K-C introduces Kleenex Facial Tissue as a disposable, economical solution for makeup removal.
1929 Kimberly-Clark lists on the New York Stock Exchange.
1931 Scott expands its paper-towel business to the home market with rolled ScotTowels, which become the country’s best-selling paper towel.
1932 Kleenex introduces its Pocket Pack Tissues.
1949 Kleenex debuts one of the largest advertising signs ever above Times Square.
1978 K-C introduces Huggies disposable diapers.
1989 K-C invents disposable training pants: Pull-Ups are launched without test marketing and become an instant success.
1995 K-C announces a $9.4 billion merger with Scott Paper.
1997 K-C introduces Huggies Little Swimmers, a line of disposable swim diapers.
2000 K-C acquires Safeskin Corp., a leading maker of high-quality disposable gloves.
2009 The Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes select K-C as the sustainability leader in the Personal Products category for the fifth consecutive year.
