Kilmer House

Alert Kilmer House readers may have noticed that there are a number of photographs of Johnson & Johnson from the early 1890s on the blog, like this one: 1893 photograph of Johnson & Johnson buildings in New Brunswick, N.J. Today, with digital cameras and mobile phones, it’s second nature to take a picture of anything at any time.  But in 1893 it was still a big deal, and we have some evidence that the photo shoot that resulted in these pictures was a big event at Johnson & Johnson. The oldest images we have of Johnson & Johnson from the late 1880s are illustrat

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

As we start to celebrate our 125th anniversary year at Johnson & Johnson, our hometown of New Brunswick, New Jersey has been digging out of record amounts of snowfall – as have many other areas this winter. Ninety years ago: clearing away snow at Johnson & Johnson. Here’s a look back at Johnson & Johnson on February 21, 1921, the day after a huge snowstorm. One employee is digging a path through the snow, while another employee stands waist-deep in a snowdrift.  The Cotton Mill is the large building on the left, and the Company’s offices and a storage building are on the right.  Th

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

There’s a little-known legend surrounding the Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters site in New Brunswick.  The legend concerns the fact that when one of the old buildings was removed some years ago, a tunnel leading to the Raritan River was discovered.  There has been a lot of speculation about the purpose of that tunnel.  Was it an old, abandoned mine tunnel from before the days of Johnson & Johnson?  Did it have something to do with the Revolutionary War?  Or – an even more intriguing possibility -- could it have been a part of the Underground Railroad,* which had several stops in Ne

One of the most interesting organizations in the history of Johnson & Johnson was formed by employees in 1907.  One hundred years ago, women employees of Johnson & Johnson formed the Laurel Club for social and educational purposes.  The club’s charter, which was signed by its president, Nellie E. Rea, stated that the Laurel Club’s purpose was “…to create a center where all may find opportunities of enjoyment and education.”  (Laurel Club Charter, February 14, 1907). The Laurel Club had a basketball team, a Glee Club and a lending library, and provided lunches and dinners to members. 

My colleague Marc who writes the JNJBTW blog mentioned something interesting in a recent post: quality correspondents. He talks about a company that, in the interests of transparency and social media, has enlisted some of its customers to tour its facilities and see first-hand how its products are made, and then to write about it on the company’s website. It’s an interesting concept. In fact, there was a company doing just that almost 100 years ago. And the company was…Johnson & Johnson. October, 1916 RED CROSS MESSENGER, "The Factory Behind the Goods" Johnson & Johnson published THE

With this week being National Public Health Week and April being National Volunteer Month, it’s a perfect opportunity to go back in time and let an early Johnson & Johnson employee who was on the front lines of public health improvement talk about some of his volunteer efforts in that area.  How can we do that?  We don’t have a time machine (despite a Six Degrees of Separation connection to H. G. Wells!), but we do have a first-hand account from one of our employees who spent many years volunteering to improve public health, starting at a time when the field was in its infancy.  That emplo

Johnson & Johnson has been located in New Brunswick, New Jersey ever since a fortunate train journey brought Company founder James Wood Johnson to the city in January of 1886.  The former wallpaper factory building that Johnson rented met the needs of the new company, and New Brunswick turned out to be a very good location for a new business for many other reasons.  It had transportation (the railroad, the Delaware & Raritan Canal, the Raritan River, and stagecoach service), it had lots of potential future employees, and it was just bursting with suppliers.  New Brunswick in the late 1

Mysterious tunnels…links to the past…The Underground Railroad…secrets of our Museum building…a legend about hidden treasure…and some survivors from the founding days of Johnson & Johnson.  Now that the days are shorter and the winds are colder, it’s time to gather ‘round the blog and talk about some of the more mysterious aspects of our history.  In a post originally scheduled for Halloween, but moved back due to Hurricane Sandy, here’s a look at some myths, legends and mysteries at Johnson & Johnson.   Mysterious Tunnels Is there really a mysterious tunnel at Johnson & Johnson?