Kilmer House

On July 17, Johnson & Johnson Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso attended a meeting of the New York Stock Exchange’s Century Club.  What’s the Century Club?  It’s a group of companies headquartered in the United States, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and founded a minimum of 100 years ago -- each of which is still thriving and innovating today.  Who’s in the club besides Johnson & Johnson, and what do they all have in common?  Read on to find out! Artist's representation of the first Johnson & Johnson building, 1886, from our archives. The

In 1908 Johnson & Johnson completed an addition to the “New” Red Cross Cotton Mill.  The mill had been built in 1901 and just a few short years later, it needed to be expanded due to the growth of the surgical dressings, cotton and gauze business and the need for extra manufacturing capacity.   As was its tradition, the Company held a reception and dance for employees to inaugurate the new building…on the evening of Friday, October 2, 1908 from 8:00 pm to midnight.  Let’s step back to that evening 100 years ago and take a look. According to Oct. 3, 1908 edition of The

This year marks a very significant anniversary at Johnson & Johnson:  the 70th anniversary of Our Credo, the business philosophy that guides Johnson & Johnson.  Written in 1943 by General Robert Wood Johnson and presented to the Board of Directors in December of that year, Our Credo is one of the earliest statements of corporate social responsibility, drafted almost three quarters of a century ago. But the origins of Our Credo actually go back much further than December of 1943.  In fact, they go back to 1935 -- and back even further to the founding of Johnson & Johnson. The firs

To mark the centennial of World War I this year, Britain’s National Archives is putting more than a million pages of war diaries from WWI online, and museum exhibits, articles and commemorations are bringing that era -- and how it changed society -- back into focus.  World War I, which began in the summer of 1914 (a century ago this month) brought profound changes to the world:  it redrew the political map and marked the end of the Edwardian era and the birth of the modern world.  World War I also changed Johnson & Johnson and its employees in many ways, and it planted the seeds that woul

The year 2014 is a big year in New Jersey, the state in which Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886.   This year is New Jersey’s 350th anniversary and, as part of the celebrations, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce is counting down the Top 25 innovators in New Jersey history.  Number nine on that list – which so far also includes inventors, scientists, astronauts, entrepreneurs and activists – is General Robert Wood Johnson. The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce is revealing the name of one New Jersey innovator each week, counting down to the organization’s October 27th Gala, at which they

Every Veterans Day in the U.S. and Remembrance Day across the world, we honor and remember the men and women who have served and who continue to serve their countries.  This year commemorates the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, the conflict that gave rise to Veterans Day.  To mark that anniversary, here's a look at that first Armistice Day through the eyes of a Johnson & Johnson employee who served on the front lines in France.   World War I began in the summer of 1914, the result of a complex system of alliances, growing nationalism and other causes, catalyzed by a single

September 12 marks the birthday of one of the most remarkable people in Johnson & Johnson history, and one of the giants in the history of pharmaceutical medicines: . During his lifetime, he was the world’s most prolific discoverer of new medicines, and he helped change the course of drug development in the 20th century. Early products from Gedeon Richter. Dr. Paul, as he was known, was born on September 12, 1926 in Turnhout, in northern Belgium. His father, Dr. Constant Janssen, was a physician and family doctor who began to import and distribute products from Gedeon Richter, a Hungarian

A Johnson & Johnson employee from the New York office who served in World War I On Veteran’s Day, we remember the men and women who serve their countries, and express our appreciation and gratitude toward them.  On this Veteran’s Day, Kilmer House would like to salute the many employees in the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies throughout our history who have served in the armed forces, starting over 100 years ago with the Spanish American War in 1898. Two soldiers in the Spanish American War, 1898, from our archives.  The man on the left was an employee in the

Artist’s Rendering of the First Johnson & Johnson Building The beginning of January 2009 marks 123 years since James Wood Johnson got off a New York to Philadelphia train in New Brunswick, New Jersey to rent space for a new company:  Johnson & Johnson.  Here’s the story: James Wood Johnson It was very early January of 1886…the first or second week of the month, 123 years ago.  James Wood Johnson, one of the founders of the Company, was a passenger on a Pennsylvania Railroad train going from New York to Philadelphia.  He and his brothers, Robert Wood Johnson and E

2009 is a big year for anniversaries at Johnson & Johnson.  For instance, it was 70 years ago (in 1939) that Dr. Philip Levine, working in our laboratories, discovered the human Rh factor.  It’s been 60 years (1949) since we opened affiliate companies in Portugal, France and Colombia.  It was 50 years ago (1959) that we formed our operating company Ethicon, Inc. out of our historic suture business.  It was 50 years ago that we acquired McNeil Laboratories.  And it was 90 years ago this year – in 1919 – that Johnson & Johnson opened its first affiliate company, and its first plant outsi