Timeline of Crayola

The following is a partial timeline of Crayola's history. It covers the Crayola brand as well as the history of Binney & Smith, the company that created the brand and is currently a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards known as Crayola LLC.

1864–1900

*1864: Joseph Binney founds Peekskill Chemical Works in upstate New York for producing carbon black.
*1880: Joseph Binney sets up headquarters in New York City, joined by son Edwin Binney and nephew C. Harold Smith.
*1885: Taylor Downs retires; Edwin and C. Harold Smith, form a partnership and call their company Binney & Smith. Early products include red oxide pigment used in barn paint and carbon black used for car tires. During this time, Binney & Smith took an active role in the development and production of carbon black from natural gas, after natural gas deposits were found throughout Pennsylvania.

1900–1950

*1900: The company begins producing slate school pencils in its newly opened Easton, Pennsylvania mill. Their carbon black wins the Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition.
*1902: "Binney & Smith Company" is formed September 30, in Easton, Pennsylvania, and serves as general distributor for several carbon black producers, introducing carbon black to other countries. This also marks their first crayon product, the industry crayon "Staonal" in black. This crayon precedes the Crayola brand by a full year and still exists to this year.
*1903: Noticing a need for safe, quality, and affordable wax crayons, the company produces the first box of eight Crayola crayons containing red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, and black sticks. It sells for a nickel. The Crayola name, coined by Edwin Binney's wife Alice Binney, comes from "craie", the French word for "chalk", and "ola", from "".
*1904: Binney & Smith wins the Gold Medal during the April 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Their entry was actually for their An-Du-Septic dustless chalk, but it was the foundation of their "Gold Medal" packaging in which they featured the gold medal on the front of their crayon boxes for the next 50 or so years. Given that this award wasn't given out until April 1904 and Crayola had been selling since August 1903, it is a misconception that the famous box shown on the postage stamp and in numerous other historical articles and web pages is "the" actual first design of their Crayola boxes because the box shown in all of those pictures has that Gold Medal on the front.
*1904-1906: Contrary to all web and printed documentation, the Rubens Crayons for Art Students line was actually introduced right from the beginning. There is authenticated evidence of this from a 1906 magazine advertisement.
*1912: Binney & Smith's carbon black is first used on tires to make black tires.
*1920: Perma Pressed Sharpenable Fine Art Crayons are added to the growing product line, which also includes new Artista brand paints.
*1923: Corporate offices move from 81-83 Fulton St. to 41 East 42nd Street in New York City.
*1936: Binney & Smith becomes a founding member of the Crayon, Watercolor and Craft Institute, promoting product safety in art materials.
*1948: To educate art teachers about the many ways to use the growing number of Crayola products, a teacher workshop program begins to offer in-school training across the country. Crayola also first releases its first 48-count box this year.

1950–1990

*1952: A Binney & Smith factory in Winfield, Kansas opens to handle the company's growing business.
*1955: Binney & Smith incorporates and changes their packaging from "Binney & Smith Co." to "Binney & Smith Inc."
*1958: The 64-color assortment of Crayola crayons—with a built-in sharpener—debuts.
*1959: The first Crayola TV ads appear during the children's TV show "Ding Dong School".
*1961: Binney & Smith becomes a publicly held company.
*1962: The color "Flesh" is renamed "Peach."
*1963: Binney & Smith becomes a member of the American Stock Exchange on May 1, with the symbol: "BYS".
*1964: Crayola acquires Permanent Pigments Inc., producers of Liquitex art materials.
*1969: The company opens an additional factory in Easton, Pennsylvania, followed five years later by a new corporate headquarters.
*1976: Binney & Smith corporate headquarters relocate from New York City to Forks Township in Easton, Pennsylvania.
*1977: Binney & Smith buys Silly Putty.
*1978:
**Binney & Smith is listed on the New York Stock Exchange on June 19, with the symbol: "BYS".
**Crayola crayons celebrate their 75th anniversary, and Crayola markers are introduced. Craft and activity kits become a vital part of the company's business.
*1979: All children's product lines are repackaged to carry the Crayola trade name and all fine art materials are repackaged to carry the Liquitex trade name.
*1980: A private distributorship in Australia is purchased to form Binney & Smith (Australia) Pty. Ltd. to market and distribute finished Crayola products.
*1984:
**Binney & Smith becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of gift and greeting card seller Hallmark Cards Inc., of Kansas City, Missouri.
**Crayola DREAM-MAKERS art education program is introduced in the nation's elementary schools.
*1987: Crayola introduces washable markers. Crayola colored pencils also arrive. They also add their 1-800-CRAYOLA toll-free number to all packaging.

1990–present

*1990: Eight Crayola crayon colors– Maize, Raw Umber, Lemon Yellow, Blue Gray, Orange Yellow, Orange Red, Green Blue and Violet Blue– are retired into the Crayola Hall of Fame in Easton, Pennsylvania. [http://www.crayola.com/mediacenter/CrayolaTrivia.doc Emerson Moser] , then Crayola's most senior crayon moulder, also retired after 37 years. After moulding approximately 1.4 billion crayons, he revealed that he is actually color blind.
*1991: Binney & Smith offers the eight retired Crayola crayon shades, along with a 64-box, in the Crayola Collector's Colors Tin for a limited time. Crayola Washable crayons are introduced.
*1992: Crayola introduces Model Magic, a modeling compound, into its long line of products.
*1993: Binney & Smith celebrates the Crayola brand's 90th birthday with its biggest crayon box ever– it holds 96 crayons, including 16 new colors. For the first time, the company asks consumers to name the colors through the Crayola "Name the New Colors Contest". The colors' names were Asparagus, Cerise, Denim, Granny Smith Apple, Macaroni and Cheese, Pacific Blue, Purple Mountain's Majesty, Razzmatazz, Robin's Egg Blue, Shamrock, Tickle Me Pink, Timberwolf, Tropical Rain Forest, Tumbleweed and Wisteria.
*1993: Color Wonder products debuted.
*1994: Crayola introduces a scented version of crayons called Magic Scents Crayons.
*1996:
**The 100 billionth Crayola crayon rolls off the production line in Easton.
**On July 16, Binney & Smith celebrates the grand opening of The Crayola Factory visitors' center in Easton with the Crayola ColorJam parade.
*1998: The Crayola 64 Box is reintroduced in its original packaging, complete with built-in sharpener. A 1958 Crayola 64 Box becomes part of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
*1999: For the third time in Crayola history a crayon is renamed due to social pressure. Indian red becomes "chestnut." (The name in fact did not refer to Native Americans, but to a pigment produced in India and used in oil paints.)
*2003: Four more Crayola crayon colors– Blizzard Blue, Magic Mint, Mulberry and Teal Blue– are retired into the Crayola Hall of Fame, but are replaced by four new colors– Inch Worm, Jazzberry Jam, Mango Tango and Wild Blue Yonder.
*2008: The Crayola 150 Crayon Tower and Gel FX are released on June 4, 2008.