Timeline of Crayola

The following is a partial timeline of Crayola's history. It covers the Crayola brand of marking utensils, as well as the history of Binney & Smith, the company that created the brand and is currently a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards known as Crayola LLC.

List of events

1864–1900

1864: Joseph Binney founds Peekskill Chemical Works in Peekskill, New York, for producing carbon black. 1880: Joseph Binney sets up headquarters in New York City on 147 Maiden Ln,Trow's New York City Directory, 1881 joined by son Edwin Binney and nephew C. Harold Smith. 1885: Joseph Binney retires; Edwin and C. Harold Smith, form a partnership and call their company Binney & Smith. Early products include red oxide pigment used in barn paint and carbon black used for car tires. During this time, Binney & Smith took an active role in the development and production of carbon black from natural gas, after natural gas deposits were found throughout Pennsylvania. 1889: Binney & Smith made yellow oxide pigment; the company produces three colors: Carbon black, yellow, and red.

1900–1950

1900: The company begins producing slate school pencils in its newly opened Easton, Pennsylvania mill. Their carbon black wins the Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition. 1902: "Binney & Smith Company" is formed September 30, in Easton, Pennsylvania, and serves as general distributor for several carbon black producers, introducing Carbon black to other countries. This also marks their first crayon product, the industry crayon "Staonal" in black. This crayon precedes the Crayola brand by a full year and still exists to this year. 1903: Noticing a need for safe, quality, and affordable wax crayons, the company produces their first boxes of crayons from the No. 30 box containing 30 unwrapped colors to the No. 51 box of 28 wrapped colors. The No. 54 box contains 8 classic colors and the first one sells for a nickel. A total of 40 colors are introduced including Black, Blue (I) (later Celestial Blue, then Azure Blue, later retired in 1958), Brown, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber (later retired in 1944), Celestial Blue (later retired in 1910), Charcoal Gray (later retired in 1910), Cobalt Blue (later retired in 1958), Copper, Dark Blue (later Prussian Blue, then Midnight Blue), Dark Chrome Green (later retired in 1949, reintroduced in 1958, as Pine Green), English Vermillion (later retired in 1935), Flesh Tint (later Flesh, then Pink Beige, then Flesh again, and then Peach), Gold (I) (later retired in 1944), Golden Ochre (later Gold Ochre then Maize, later retired in 1990) Green, Indian Red (later Chestnut), Lemon Yellow (was once later Light Yellow, later retired in 1990), Light Chrome Green (later retired in 1935), Madder Lake (later retired in 1935), Medium Chrome Green (later retired in 1939), Medium Yellow (later Goldenrod), Olive Green, Orange, Permanent Geranium Lake (later retired in 1910), Permanent Magenta (later Magenta), Raw Sienna, Raw Umber (later retired in 1990), Red, Rose Pink (later Carnation Pink), Sea Green, Sepia, Silver, Ultramarine Blue (later retired in 1944), Van Dyke brown (later retired in 1910), Venetian Red (later retired in 1944), Violet (I) (later retired in 1930), White, and Yellow. 1904: Binney & Smith wins the Gold Medal during the April 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Their entry was actually for their An-Du-Septic dustless chalk, but it was the foundation of their "Gold Medal" packaging in which they featured the gold medal on the front of their crayon boxes for the next 50 or so years. Given that this award wasn't given out until April 1904 and Crayola had been selling since August 1903, it is a misconception that the famous box shown on the postage stamp and in numerous other historical articles and web pages is "the" actual first design of their Crayola boxes because the box shown in all of those pictures has that Gold Medal on the front. 1905: Binney redesigns their 8-color assortment to use the famous "Gold Medal" label and design. They also renamed the box to be the No. 8, following an earlier such introduction by the Franklin Mfg. Co. for their Rainbow line of crayons. This first and only Gold Medal box used the Eagle side of the Gold Medal and was the only assortment size to use this side of the medal, as it was changed to the other side before they expanded the line to other assortment sizes in 1910. This also marks the year that they introduced Spectra, a pastel crayon line. 1907: Binney & Smith partnered with Milton Bradley to produce the Crayola No. 77 assortment box with Milton Bradley printed on the box also. 1908: Binney & Smith partnered with Littlefield Maps to make a special color assortment of their Rubens-Crayola No. 12 box with special Biblical colors pasted on the back to accommodate church work on their Old Testament maps. 1909: Binney & Smith launched their Durel line of pressed crayons. 1910: Binney & Smith expands their Gold Medal line to include the debut of their No. 16 box (which also followed an earlier debut of a 16-color assortment by Franklin Mfg. Co.). They also discontinued many of their original boxes in favor of standardizing more to this Gold Medal line. Seven crayon colors are discontinued: Charcoal Gray, Dark Venetian Red, Permanent Geranium Lake, Celestial Blue, Light Pink, Light Venetian Red, and Van Dyke Brown. Raw Sienna is unavailable until 1958. 1911: Binney & Smith launch their Cerola brand of crayons targeted toward the lower end quality but more affordable markets. 1912: Binney & Smith's carbon black is first used on tires to make black tires. They also launched their Cerata brand of crayons. 1913: Marks the launch of the Little Folks outfit boxes (Nos. 25 & 50) along with a Picture Tracer box. 1915: The Boston crayon line debuts. This also marks the discontinuation of the No. 101 assortment box that contained Gold, Silver and Copper crayon colors. While Gold and Silver was available as a bulk purchase, these three original colors couldn't be found on a retail assortment box for the next 30 years. Copper is unavailable until 1958. 1919: The design of their Gold Medal boxes is changed to drop the Paris reference. They also launch their No. 88 8-color tins. 1920: Perma Pressed Sharpenable Fine Art Crayons are added to the growing product line, which also includes new Artista brand paints. 1922: Binney & Smith expand their Little Folks outfit concept by introducing a number of Toy Sets with specific themes. Included in the launch are Crayola Color Kit for Kiddies (No. 508), Crayola Crusader Box (No. 503), Crayola Snowbound Color Box (No. 500), Crayola Dream Stories Color Set (No. 501), Crayola Home Run Color Box (No. 503), Crayola Little Boy Blue Paint Box (No. 501), Crayola Color it and Trace it Outfit (No. 502), Crayola Bird-Land Color Set (No. 516), Crayola Chummy Animals Color Set (No. 510), Uncle Wiggily Crayola Color Box (No. 506), Crayola Golden Treasure Color Set (No. 518), Crayola Rob Roy Color Box (No. 513). While attractive and theme driven, they later concluded that the higher cost made these some of their least successful products. 1923: Corporate offices move from 81–83 Fulton St. to 41 East 42nd Street in New York City. 1924: Perma and Tiny Tot crayon lines were introduced. 1926: Binney & Smith launch their Perma and Crayolet crayon lines. They also begin publishing their bi-monthly art publication “The Drawing Teacher” The Munsell crayon color line is introduced. The colors are: Maximum Red, Middle Red, Middle Yellow Red, Maximum Yellow Red (later retired in 1944, reintroduced in 1949, as Medium Orange), Middle Yellow, Maximum Yellow, Maximum Green Yellow, Middle Green Yellow, Maximum Green, Middle Green, Middle Blue Green, Maximum Blue Green, Middle Blue, Maximum Blue, Maximum Blue Purple, Middle Blue Purple, Maximum Purple, Middle Purple, Maximum Red Purple, Middle Red Purple, and Middle Gray (later Neutral Gray then Gray). The rest of the colors were retired in 1944, except for Middle Gray. 1927: Binney & Smith Co. launch the Snookum's Crayola Color Set No. 25 based on the popular baby actor who died of blood poisoning several years later at the age of 7 Binney & Smith Co. launch the Besco line and redesign their Gold Medal boxes to remove the ornate scrolling. 1929: Binney & Smith Co. discontinues all of their Toy Sets and Color Outfits except their Little Folks No. 25 and No. 50. 1930: Binney & Smith Co. launches their Chic’ago line of pastel crayons, Five new crayon colors are released: Blue Violet, Red Orange, Red Violet, Violet (II), and Yellow Green. Middle Gray is renamed Neutral Gray. Violet (I) is discontinued. 1931: C. Harold Smith, co-founder of Binney & Smith Co. dies. 1934: Edwin Binney, co-founder of Binney & Smith Co. dies. 1935: Three new crayon colors are released: Carmine (later Carmine Red, later retired in 1958), Blue (II) (later Medium Blue, later retired in 1958), and Turquoise Blue. Three crayon colors are discontinued: English Vermillion, Light Chrome Green, and Madder Lake. Blue (I) is renamed Celestial Blue. 1936: Binney & Smith becomes a founding member of the Crayon, Watercolor and Craft Institute, promoting product safety in art materials. 1939: The Medium Green crayon is discontinued. 1941: The Gamboge Yellow crayon is released. 1944: Burnt Umber, Gold (I), Ultramarine Blue, and Venetian Red are discontinued. Sepia is unavailable until 1958. The Munsell crayon line is discontinued. The Gamboge Yellow Crayon is discontinued due to World War II-era pigment shortages. 1948: To educate art teachers about the many ways to use the growing number of Crayola products, a teacher workshop program begins to offer in-school training across the country. 1949: Crayola releases its first 48-count box this year. 17 new crayon colors are added: Azure Blue (later retired in 1958), Blue (III), Blue-Green, Brilliant Rose (later retired in 1958), Cerulean Blue (later retired in 1958), Dark Red (later Maroon), Dark Green (later Forest Green), Lavender (I) (later retired in 1958), Light Green (later Sea Green), Light Magenta (later Thistle, later retired in 1999), Mahogany, Medium Blue (later retired in 1958), Medium Red Violet (later Orchid), Medium Rose (later retired in 1958), Medium Violet (later retired in 1958), Salmon, and Violet (later Blue-Violet). Six crayon colors are discontinued: Celestial Blue, Blue (II), Dark Chrome Green (reintroduced in 1958, as Pine Green), and Violet (II) (reintroduced in 1958).

1950–1990 1952: A Binney & Smith factory in Winfield, Kansas opens to handle the company's growing business. 1953: Binney & Smith Co. moves their headquarters to 380 Madison Ave in New York city. The Gold (II) crayon is released. 1955: Binney & Smith incorporates and changes their packaging from "Binney & Smith Co." to "Binney & Smith Inc." 1956: Neutral Gray is renamed Gray. 1958: The 64-color assortment of Crayola crayons—with a built-in sharpener—is released. Prussian blue is changed to Midnight Blue because of Prussia by then being an extinct country for decades. 19 new colors are introduced: Bittersweet, Burnt Orange, Orange-Yellow (later retired in 1990) , Green-Yellow, Spring Green, Light Blue (for a limited time only) , Sky Blue, Cornflower, Green-Blue (later retired in 1990), Navy Blue, Cadet Blue, Periwinkle, Plum, Mulberry (later retired in 2003), Violet-Red, Melon, Tan, Apricot, and Blue-Gray (later retired in 1990). 1959: The first Crayola TV ads appear during the children's TV show Ding Dong School. In the 64-count box of crayons, two colors are discontinued and replaced by others: "Brilliant Rose" by "Magenta," and "Light Blue" by "Turquoise Blue." 1961: Binney & Smith becomes a publicly traded company. 1962: The color "Flesh" is renamed "Peach" completing an odd transition from Flesh-Tint to Flesh to Pink Beige, back to Flesh and finally to Peach. 1963: Binney & Smith becomes a member of the American Stock Exchange on May 1, with the symbol: BYS. 1964: