The Birthplace of Crayola^®

The Birthplace of Crayola^®. Karl Stirner Arts Trail. , Edwin Binney and his cousin C. Harold Smith inherited a pigment business in 1885 from Edwin's father Joseph. The cousins formed a partnership and called their company Binney and Smith. Early products include red oxide pigment used in barn paint and carbon black for car tires. The company began producing slate school pencils in 1900 in a mill located along the Bushkill Creek, approximately 1 mile upstream from the 13th Street Bridge., The company produced the first box of eight Crayola^® crayons in 1903, selling for a nickel. The Pigment Division was sold in 1955 and the company focused on its art materials business. In 1978, the company moved the bulk of its Pennsylvania-based manufacturing from its existing facilities along Bushkill Creek to another plant located in Forks Township., In 1996, the 100 billionth Crayola^® crayon rolled off the production line. Also during that year, the company opened The Crayola FACTORY^®, a 20,000 square foot creativity and visitors' center on the Centre Square in Easton, which has served as a cornerstone of the revitalization of downtown Easton., [Captions:] , Crayola^®'s roots can be traced to the Peekskill Chemical Works, a charcoal and lamp black company founded by Joseph Binney in 1864 in upstate New York. Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith (pictured here) formed a partnership to continue the business upon Joseph's retirement in 1885., The word "Crayola^®" was coined by Edwin Binney's wife Alice. It comes from "craie," the French word for chalk, and "ola," the root of the word "oleaginous", meaning "oily".