Kilmer House

One of Our Early Employee Volunteers Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies employees all over the world have a long tradition of volunteering in the community.  It reflects their feelings of responsibility to the communities in which they live and work, and it forms the basis of the third paragraph of Our Credo.  One thing that very few people know is that our tradition of employees volunteering in the community goes back over 100 years…and our earliest records show that it was started by women employees.  So, how did it start? Another Early Employee Volunteer E

Johnson & Johnson Plaster Mill Employee (left) and fellow soldier, Spanish American War, 1898 My last post talked about the origins of our tradition of employees volunteering in the community. Another way our employees volunteered was through military service to their countries, a tradition that began in 1898 with the Spanish American War when two Johnson & Johnson employees in the U.S. volunteered to serve in the military. One of Our First Two Employees to Volunteer to Serve in the Military in 1898: He Wrote the Company a Letter One of those two employees, Richard G., had just accep

In the earliest days of the Company, Johnson & Johnson was centered in the city of New Brunswick, where it still is headquartered today.  Although the research labs were located across the river in Highland Park, the plaster making facilities, warehouses, cotton mill, shipping and other facilities were located close to the river in New Brunswick.  Besides the Company’s World Headquarters (which still occupies roughly the same site at which the Company started), New Brunswick is home to other sites of historical significance to Johnson & Johnson.  Like most of their

Aseptic gauze and cotton were among the first Johnson & Johnson products.  Many of these early products were impregnated with antiseptic agents or medication, and sealed in glass or metal containers to keep them sterile. These antiseptic gauzes and cottons helped revolutionize surgical care by greatly reducing mortality rates from surgical infection.  Many of the names of the Company’s early products, such as the ones above, were descriptive of the product or its ingredients.  Others -- such as Dr. Grosvenor’s Bellcapsic Plaster -- were named after physicians who contribute

It's getting towards the end of April --  time for the Johnson & Johnson Annual Meeting of Shareholders.  Since we went public in 1944, you might be forgiven for thinking that our Annual Meetings started on a spring Thursday at the end of April 66 years ago -- but they didn't.  In fact, we’ve had Annual Meetings since 1888, they used to be in the winter, and the first one was held on a Saturday.  By special request, I’m reposting a post from last year: read on to find out how much you REALLY know about our Annual Meeting. The Earliest Meetings:  Meet Our

With Mother’s Day coming up in the U.S. on May 9th, Kilmer House would like to salute all of the Moms throughout our history and in our present.  This is the first in a series of three Mother’s Day posts that talk about some of our history that is connected to mothers.  One of the ways Johnson & Johnson supported mothers starting in the 1890s was through the manufacture of maternity kits, designed to insure safe childbirth for the mother and baby. Today, there are countless books, websites, online communities and classes for expectant parents to prepare them for the birth of a ch

In my last post, I mentioned Scientific Director Fred Kilmer’s Opera House Pharmacy, which was “very likely” on the on the corner of George and Albany Streets.  Here’s direct confirmation that his pharmacy was in fact on that corner, which is the corner of George and Albany that is across Albany Street from the 410 George Street Building.  Kilmer’s pharmacy was on the ground floor of the old Victorian-style Masonic Hall, whose main tenant was the New Brunswick Opera House.  This photo, which is reproduced here and also linked from Rutgers University’s Old New Brunswick site, cle

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the passing of Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson in 1910, this is one of several posts looking at the earliest years of Johnson & Johnson, Robert Wood Johnson as our first president, and the Company’s first senior management transition. Illustration of Johnson & Johnson from an April, 1887 article in the Detroit Pharmaceutical Era, from our archives.  Our first building is on the left. Johnson & Johnson opened its doors in 1886 with fourteen employees.  By 1887, that number had grown to 125, and the Company had e

Sterile sutures were another of the earliest products of Johnson & Johnson.  These are some examples of early sterile sutures made by the Company, and include catgut, which was an absorbable suture, and silk sutures.  Johnson & Johnson worked diligently to improve sterilization methods and make a variety of sterile sutures available. Many physicians at the time used ordinary sewing thread to close wounds, so the Company’s sterile sutures were a welcome innovation for doctors and patients.  An interesting sidelight of the Company’s suture business is dental floss, which

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the passing of Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson in 1910, this is one of several posts looking at the earliest years of Johnson & Johnson, Robert Wood Johnson as our first president, and the Company’s first senior management transition. It’s 1887 and Johnson & Johnson has grown in just one year from 14 employees in one building to 125 employees in several buildings.  Our original building from 1886, the four-story former wallpaper factory, is now the plaster mill, filled with machinery designed by founder James Wood Johnso