Editing Colgate-Palmolive (section)

==History and founding ==
[[File:Good Teeth Good Health, Colgate's Ribbon Dental Cream, 1913.jpg|thumb|1913 magazine ad of [[Colgate (toothpaste)|Colgate]] toothpaste]]
[[File:Palmolive1915.jpg|thumb|1915 magazine ad of [[Palmolive (brand)|Palmolive]] soap]]
[[File:Colgate's Ribbon Dental Cream, Protect your teeth from grit. Red Book Magazine 1923-03.jpg|thumb|1923 Red Book magazine ad for Colgate’s Ribbon Dental Cream]]
[[William Colgate]], an English immigrant to the United States and devout [[Baptist]], established a starch, soap, and candle factory on Dutch Street in [[New York City]] under the name William Colgate & Company in 1806.

In 1833, he suffered a severe heart attack, stopping his business's sales; after a convalescence he continued with his business. In the 1840s, the company began selling individual cakes of soap in uniform weights. In 1857, Colgate died and the company was reorganized as Colgate & Company under the management of his similarly devout Baptist son [[Samuel Colgate]], who did not want to continue the business but thought it would be the right thing to do. In 1872, he introduced Cashmere Bouquet, a perfumed soap.

In 1873, the company introduced its first [[Colgate (toothpaste)|Colgate toothpaste]], an aromatic toothpaste sold in jars.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jones |first=Geoffrey |url=http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/Blond%20and%20Blue-eyed_0e0cba58-f39a-400b-b487-826befe097d7.pdf |title=Blonde and blue-eyed? Globalizing beauty, c.1945–c.1980 |journal=Economic History Review |volume=61 |issue=1 |year=2008 |pages=125–154 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810135011/http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/Blond%20and%20Blue-eyed_0e0cba58-f39a-400b-b487-826befe097d7.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2015 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.2007.00388.x |s2cid=154339826 }}</ref> In 1896, the company sold the first toothpaste in a tube, named Colgate Ribbon Dental Cream (invented by dentist [[Washington Sheffield]]). Also in 1896, Colgate hired [[Martin Ittner]] and under his direction founded one of the first applied research labs.<ref name="NJ history page 160">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_r9Ni6_u0JEC&q=matin+ittner+death&pg=PA160 |title=Colgate-Palmolive |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of New Jersey |publisher=Rutgers University |year=2004 |editor=Maxine N. Lurie, Marc Mappen |isbn=9780813533254 |access-date=January 3, 2011}}</ref> By 1908, they initiated mass sales of toothpaste in tubes. Another of William Colgate's sons, [[James Boorman Colgate]], was a primary trustee of [[Colgate University]] (formerly Madison University).

In [[Milwaukee]], Wisconsin, the B. J. Johnson Company was making a soap from [[palm oil]] and [[olive oil]], the formula of which was developed by Burdett J. Johnson in 1898. The soap was popular enough to rename their company after it in 1917—Palmolive.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/Corp/History/1806.cvsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060502094906/http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/Corp/History/1806.cvsp |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 2, 2006 |title=Colgate-Palmolive Company History: Creating Bright Smiles for 200 Years |access-date=February 24, 2009 }}</ref> Around the start of the 20th century, Palmolive was the world's best-selling soap.

In June 1928, rumors started that "officials of the Palmolive-Peet Co. are negotiating to purchase the Colgate Co." privately held by the Colgate family.<ref>{{cite news |title=Palmolive to Get Colgate?|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/655419694 |work=The Kansas City Star |location=Kansas City, Missouri |date=June 21, 1928 |access-date=February 4, 2023}}</ref> Peet Brothers Soap Company of Kansas City merged into Palmolive two years before the merger with Colgate.<ref>{{cite news |title=Palmolive Company and K.C. Concern to Unite|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/243242146/ |work=The Daily Tribune |location=Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin|date=December 7, 1926 |access-date=February 4, 2023}}</ref> The merger combined the three oldest and largest soap and perfumery companies in the US and was effective July 1, 1928. The combined company was named the "Colgate Palmolive Peet Company".<ref name= CP_history>{{cite web |url= https://www.colgatepalmolive.com/en-us/about/history |title= History |year= 2016 |publisher= Colgate-Palmolive |access-date= 2018-01-12}}</ref> The combined pre-merger sales in 1927 of the three companies exceeded $100,000,000 ({{Inflation|US|100000000|1928|fmt=eq}}). The newly combined company had seven US manufacturing facilities as well as factories in 14 foreign countries.<ref>{{cite news |title=Soap Companies Will be Merged|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/100504819 |work=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=July 14, 1928 |access-date=February 4, 2023}}</ref> In 1953, the companies became a joint venture, known as the Colgate-Palmolive Company.<ref name= CP_history />