Larkin Company
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The Larkin Company, also known as the Larkin Soap Company, was a company founded in 1875 in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
as a small
soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...
factory. It grew tremendously throughout the late 1800s and into the first quarter of the 1900s with an approach called "The Larkin Idea" that transformed the company into a
mail-order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...
conglomerate that employed 2,000 people and had annual sales of $28.6 million () in 1920. The company's success allowed them to hire
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
to design the iconic Larkin Administration Building which stood as a symbol of Larkin prosperity until the company's demise in the 1940s.


History

The Larkin Company was founded in 1875 as "J. D. Larkin, Manufacturer of Plain and Fancy Soaps" when John D. Larkin sold his interest in his brother-in-law's company J. Weller & Co. in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
to set up his own factory in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
. His first product was a yellow laundry bar named "Sweet Home Soap." Larkin's first salesman was his wife's brother,
Elbert Hubbard Elbert Green Hubbard (June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Raised in Hudson, Illinois, he had early success as a traveling salesman for the Larkin Soap Company. Hubbard is known best as th ...
, who had also been working for J. Weller & Co. in Chicago as a salesman. The business grew very quickly, and in 1877 Larkin bought land on Seneca Street in Buffalo and built his first factory. By 1878, the company was producing 9 different soap products, ranging from "Boraxine" soap powder, through a variety of laundry soaps to "Jet" harness soap, "Oatmeal" toilet soap and
Glycerine Glycerol () is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, sweet-tasting, viscous liquid. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known as glycerides. It is also widely used as a sweetener in the food industry and as a humectant in ...
. In 1878, 13-year-old Darwin D. Martin was hired as a salesman in
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. By 1880, as sales to general stores and other merchants who would buy products in large quantities increased, Martin relocated to Buffalo and became the first, and at that time the only, hired office-worker of the Larkin Company, as all office work was done by Larkin himself.


"The Larkin Idea"

In 1881, the company initiated
door-to-door Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a pr ...
sales to private residences to complement its mail solicitation to storekeepers. To establish brand identity and keep up with competitors, Hubbard inserted a modest premium into every box of soap starting with a color picture of the company's logo. This coincided with the growth of the company's
mail-order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...
business and the strategy of gift premiums escalated quickly into larger and more interesting souvenir picture cards than his competitors. From there, Larkin and Hubbard began experimenting and refining the practice. Soon a
handkerchief A handkerchief (; also called a hankie or, historically, a handkercher or a ) is a form of a kerchief or bandanna, typically a hemmed square of thin fabric which can be carried in the pocket or handbag for personal hygiene purposes such as w ...
was included with the "Pure White" toilet soap and then a bath towel with the purchase of "Ocean Bath" soap. Larkin and Hubbard decided to market directly to consumers, and by 1885 had eliminated all middlemen, including their own salesmen. With the money saved on sales commissions, Larkin was able to offer better premiums. In 1891, Larkin placed its first large wholesale order, $40,000 () worth of piano lamps. The next year it expanded into Morris Chairs worth $80,000 () and oak dining chairs worth $125,000 (). One of the most popular giveaways was the Chatauqua Desk. For a $10 order of soap, the customer would receive the soap and the desk, a $10 premium. The idea grabbed the attention of the public, and through further refinement, Larkin began offering a variety of both products and premiums. The "Combination Box", advertised in the 1890s, offered enough soap and toiletry products to last an average family one year. In 1893, the catalog was sent to 1.5 million customers. To meet customer demand as the business grew, Larkin found it necessary to manufacture its own goods for the most popular premiums. Various subsidiaries were developed including a furniture factory in Buffalo to assemble pieces cut in Tennessee as well as the establishment of Buffalo Pottery in 1901 to meet the demand for premiums. The
Greensburg, Pennsylvania Greensburg is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The population was 14,976 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located southeast of Pittsburgh, Greensburg is a part of the Greater Pittsbu ...
Glass Company produced all of the bottles and related glassware and contracts were negotiated with Oneida to furnish plated silverware and the Buffalo Garment Center made men's apparel. The Larkin company later recruited
housewives A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which may include Parenting, caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; Sew ...
, called "Larkin Secretaries," and neighborhood children to market their products door-to-door, much like Avon products are now sold. The Larkin Secretaries organized "Larkin Clubs" of ten members that were set up so each month each member of the club would pledge to order $1 worth of Larkin goods. One member was then selected at random to receive the $10 premium and the next month the premium would go to another member. The period from 1892 to 1904 saw rapid growth in sales from just under $500,000 () to over $13,000,000 () in 1904. By 1901, Larkin was big enough to have its own building at the
Pan-American Exposition The Pan-American Exposition was a world's fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park–Front Park System, Delaware Park, extending ...
. By 1905, the catalog was offering over 115 products, including soaps, toiletries, shampoo, coffee and teas, extracts, cocoa, spices, chocolate, soups, perfumes. By 1912, the Larkin Catalogue was second only to the
Sears Catalog Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwa ...
in variety of products being offered. Tremendous amounts of Larkin advertising were produced including flyers, magazines, catalogs and brochures. "The Larkin Idea" was a promotional magazine for the club secretaries that listed new products and marketing strategies and encouraged members to set up "Larkin Pantries," whole areas in their homes stocked with Larkin goods as a way to generate sales from their neighbors. The company promoted home decorating with the "Larkin Look." By 1920, a home could be completely decorated with Larkin goods, from furniture to rugs, silverware, table lamps, curtains, clocks, school supplies, toys, jewelry, clothing, and bibles. Branch offices were opened all over the country, including
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
,
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
,
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
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, and Chicago. By 1925, Larkin had approximately 900 catalog items and factories covering sixteen-and-a-half acres and reached peak levels in the late 1920s with over 1,000 products and average yearly sales were $15.5 million and over 4,000 employees.


Later years

Elbert Hubbard Elbert Green Hubbard (June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Raised in Hudson, Illinois, he had early success as a traveling salesman for the Larkin Soap Company. Hubbard is known best as th ...
retired in the 1890s, and went on to found the Roycroft artisan community in East Aurora, New York, a realization of the
Arts and Crafts Movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...
. He and his second wife, Alice Moore Hubbard, died aboard the RMS ''Lusitania'', when it was sunk by a German submarine on May 7, 1915. Darwin D. Martin became Corporate Secretary and guided the company through its rise to a Corporate Institution until his retirement in 1925. He created a unique card ledger system for tracking sales and maintaining accounts which is utilized by many corporations, in various formats, to this day. He was instrumental in Frank Lloyd Wright receiving the commission to design the Larkin Administration Building, his home in Buffalo and a summer home called Graycliff. John D. Larkin died in 1926 at which point John D. Larkin Jr. took over control of the company. The growth of
department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...
s, the growing usage of the automobile and the volatility of the marketplace, especially during the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, damaged the Larkin Company's
mail-order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...
business. John D. Larkin Jr. attempted to diversify Larkin with a chain of retail food markets, gasoline stations, home craft stores, and a department store, but ultimately all efforts were unsuccessful. Internal struggles among the next generation of Larkin executives and the loss of key executives, precipitated the demise of the company. Sales fell from a high of $28.6 million in 1920 to $2 million by 1939. The company was sold in 1941, liquidated in 1942, and the new owners continued a
mail-order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...
business until 1962.


Larkin Buildings

By 1902, Larkin needed a building to consolidate offices scattered throughout all of his factories. Martin, and
William Heath William Heath (March 2, 1737 – January 24, 1814) was an American farmer, soldier, and political leader from Massachusetts who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Life and career Heath ...
, Larkin's brother-in-law and the head of the Legal Department, suggested
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
. Larkin consented and Wright received his first commercial commission, the Larkin Administration Building which was completed in 1904 and accommodated 1,800 corresponding secretaries, clerks, and executives. The Larkin Administration Building was demolished in 1950. Larkin built the Larkin Company Building in Chicago in 1912, to serve its operations in Illinois and adjacent states. Larkin, known for its generous corporate culture, also commissioned Wright to design row houses for its workers, which were never built. Originally published in ''Buffalo Spree'', July–August 2006, p. 150. A large portion of the original Larkin manufacturing complex survives today including the Larkin Terminal Warehouse which has been converted to corporate offices and housed the headquarters of First Niagara Bank, which has been acquired by
KeyBank KeyBank is an American regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and the 27th largest bank in the United States. Organized under the publicly traded KeyCorp, KeyBank was formed from the 1994 merger of the Cleveland-based Society Corpora ...
. The surrounding neighborhood is now called " Larkinville" and has been converted into a mixed-use area.


Gallery

File:Larkin Elite Toilet Soap.jpg, "Elite" toilet soap advertisement from 1882 File:Larkin Modjeska Cold Cream.jpg, Modjeska Cold Cream advertisement from 1902 File:Larkin Ammonia.jpg, Ammonia advertisement from 1915 File:Elbert Hubbard - Project Gutenberg eText 12933.jpg,
Elbert Hubbard Elbert Green Hubbard (June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Raised in Hudson, Illinois, he had early success as a traveling salesman for the Larkin Soap Company. Hubbard is known best as th ...
, founder of Roycroft after his retirement from the Larkin Co.


External links


Larkin Company
A bibliography by The Buffalo History Museum
Larkin Company Records, 1875-1974
An inventory of the records, which are not digitized or online, at the Buffalo History Museum. * Larkin Company Orchestra audio recording, 1925


See also

* John D. Larkin *
Elbert Hubbard Elbert Green Hubbard (June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Raised in Hudson, Illinois, he had early success as a traveling salesman for the Larkin Soap Company. Hubbard is known best as th ...
* Darwin D. Martin * Buffalo Pottery * William R. Heath * Walter V. Davidson *
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
* Larkin Administration Building * Larkin Terminal Warehouse * Mail Order Business


References

{{reflist, 2 Manufacturing companies established in 1875 Companies based in Buffalo, New York Defunct companies based in New York (state) 1875 establishments in New York (state) Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1942 1942 disestablishments in New York (state) 1941 mergers and acquisitions