Kilmer House

Today we take new technologies like high-tech videoconferencing, instant messaging, Twitter and video chats for granted.  But that wasn’t always the case.  Ninety-three years ago (on May 29th, 1916, to be exact), Johnson & Johnson took part in a demonstration of the latest cutting-edge technology:  the opening of the first transcontinental telephone line opened between New Brunswick, New Jersey and San Francisco, California.  The demonstration was such a big deal that it was held at a special Transcontinental Dinner at one of the leading hotels in New Brunswick, New Jer

The Origins of our McNeil Business -- the Mc Neil Family Pharmacy Retail pharmacies have been important in Johnson & Johnson history for a number of reasons.  Before the days of supermarkets, they were the places that sold our products to consumers – from medicated plasters to Lister’s Dog Soap to JOHNSON’S® Baby Powder to BAND-AID® Brand Adhesive Bandages.  But retail pharmacies are also a big part of our history in another way:  if it hadn’t been for them, Johnson & Johnson – and some of its operating companies – might not be here at all.  Why is that? 

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

Kilmer House salutes Richard B. Sellars, retired Johnson & Johnson Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (he served from 1973-1976), who passed away this week at age 94. Though only chairman for three years, Mr. Sellars had a 40-year career with the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, and he had an impact that continues to be felt today.  Two of the things we owe to him are successfully steering Johnson & Johnson through the tough economic times of the early 1970s, and committing the Company to stay in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where it was founded in 1886.  

This month marks the start of a very important year for Johnson & Johnson:  our 125th birthday year!  To celebrate the milestone of a century and a quarter, this blog post will join Company founder James Wood Johnson on a January 1886 train journey that brought him – and Johnson & Johnson -- to New Brunswick, New Jersey. The three founders of Johnson & Johnson (from left to right): Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson As Kilmer House readers will know, we were founded in 1886 (125 years ago!) by three brothers:  Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson an

The First Johnson & Johnson building in New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1886 It’s the winter of 1886, and Company founders James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson have solved the issue of where to put their new company, thanks to James’s very lucky train journey.  New Brunswick, New Jersey turned out to be a great location:  it had the railroad, the Delaware & Raritan Canal and the Raritan River to transport raw materials to the new company, and to ship products out.  And it had a lot of other industries -- a cigar box manufacturer, and a fruit jar manufacturer, for example -- that would

Johnson & Johnson employees celebrate the 125th anniversary of Johnson & Johnson As readers of Kilmer House know, Johnson & Johnson is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.  Our employees across the world have been acknowledging this milestone anniversary in a variety of ways in their operating companies -- as well as some of their individual operating company anniversaries that also fall this year.  These ongoing events in 2011 are maintaining an anniversary tradition at Johnson & Johnson that goes back 105 years. 105 Years Ago: Johnson & Johnson celebrated its 20th

In commemoration of the 125th anniversary of Johnson & Johnson this year, we’ve put together a new video about our history called Johnson & Johnson, Our History: Our Mission.  The video has many photographs, artifacts, documents and films from our archives that have never been seen before, and it tells the story of the founding and history of Johnson & Johnson and the ideas and philosophy that have been the backbone of the Company for 125 years. The story begins in Crystal Lake, Pennsylvania during the years of the American Civil War… Enjoy, and feel free to share the video wi

In 2011, Johnson & Johnson celebrated its 125th anniversary. When the Company began in 1886, the original 14 employees in our first building -- that small former wallpaper factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey -- could not have foreseen that 125 years later, their tiny little business would be a global company with approximately 117,000 employees at more than 250 operating companies in 60 countries. Those early employees were very creative in developing new manufacturing techniques to make the first mass produced sterile surgical dressings and sterile sutures, and that creativity has stayed

Sir Joseph Lister, from our archives This February marks the 100th anniversary of the passing of Sir Joseph Lister.  The father of modern antiseptic surgery, he was also the inspiration behind the founding of Johnson & Johnson.  It was Lister’s lecture at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition that led medicinal plaster maker Robert Wood Johnson and his brothers to start a company to make the first mass produced sterile surgical dressings and sterile sutures and actively promote the adoption of sterile surgery.  Today, non-sterile surgery would be unthinkable, but it wasn’t all that l