| When the summer begins to cool down and children | | | | Crayola Crayons have been a staple of educational |
| and parents alike prepare for the start of the school | | | | school supplies ever since. |
| year, there is one company that will undoubtedly find a | | | | The word crayon goes back as far as 1644, taken |
| place on every list of back to school supplies: Crayola | | | | from the French word craie. However, the idea of |
| Crayons. | | | | combining wax with a color pigment goes back as far |
| Initially known as Binney & Smith, Crayola was founded | | | | as the Ancient Egyptians, who combined hot beeswax |
| in New York City in 1885. It was initially intended to be | | | | with colored pigments to put color onto stone. This |
| an industrial pigment supply company. The co-founders, | | | | was known as encaustic painting. The method was |
| cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith, had little | | | | also used by the Romans, Greeks, and certain |
| interest in making educational school supplies, and | | | | indigenous people in the Philippines. |
| instead created inexpensive black colorants used for | | | | However, this technique wasn't intended for children |
| making car tires black. | | | | and had little use as an educational school supply. |
| At the turn of the century, the company began | | | | The modern day crayons are easy to work with, tidy |
| producing slate school pencils and new, dustless chalk. | | | | in comparison to paint and markers, non-toxic, |
| The dustless chalk becomes so popular, in fact, that it | | | | inexpensive, and available in virtually any color. |
| received a gold medal at the St. Louis World | | | | Because of this, they have become "must-haves" on |
| Exposition. | | | | any list for school or camp supplies for generations. |
| While Binney & Smith reps visited schools to sell the | | | | The name "crayola" was the idea of Binney's wife |
| pencils and chalks, they all noticed a reoccurring theme; | | | | Alice, a former schoolteacher who combined the |
| Schools were badly in need of a high-quality, | | | | French word "craie" with "ola," intended to represent |
| affordable wax crayon. Almost immediately, Binney & | | | | "oily." The Crayola brand has an incredible 99% name |
| Smith made its industrial marking crayons smaller and | | | | recognition in U.S. consumer households, and is sold in |
| added different colored pigments to the wax, creating | | | | approximately 80 different countries worldwide. |
| a perfect school supply. | | | | |