Campbell's Soup Didn't Mean to Inspire Pop Art. It Happened Anyway.
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The cans became so familiar that artist Andy Warhol chose them as the subject of his famous 1962 Campbell's Soup Cans series.
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St. Clair Exchange (@stclairexchange) - America's First Independence Day Celebration Happened Before the War Was Won
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In July 1777, Philadelphia threw a massive party for the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
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St. Clair Exchange (@stclairexchange) - The U.S. Government Became a Railroad Owner by Refusing to Make a Decision
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In the 1860s, the federal government helped finance the construction of the transcontinental railroad through loans and land grants to the Union Pacific Railroad. Continue...
St. Clair Exchange (@stclairexchange) - Kodak Created the Camera That Helped Destroy Kodak
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In 1975, Kodak engineer Steve Sasson created the world's first digital camera.
The prototype weighed eight pounds, recorded images to a cassette tape, and...
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St. Clair Exchange (@stclairexchange) - The Blackjack Hand That Kept FedEx Flying. The rest of the story...
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In 1973, FedEx was nearly out of cash.
The company had just $5,000 left and couldn't cover its fuel bills.
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St. Clair Exchange (@stclairexchange) - Ford Paid Double Wages to Fix a Hiring Crisis
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In 1914, Henry Ford shocked industry leaders by raising factory pay to $5 a day, more than double the typical wage.
Critics called it reckless.
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Chocolate Didn't Make Milton Hershey Rich, Caramels Did
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Before the chocolate empire, Milton Hershey failed twice trying to build candy businesses.
His first caramel company in Philadelphia collapsed. His second attempt in New York did the same. Investors lost confidence. Hershey kept going anyway.
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A single British tea merchant accidentally created the global insurance industry in 1688
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Edward Lloyd ran a modest London coffeehouse where sailors and merchants gathered to share shipping news.
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Sears Was Once the Largest Employer in the Entire United States
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At its peak in the 1970s, Sears employed more than 350,000 people. It was the largest private employer in the United States.
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The doll that saved Mattel started as an unpopular idea
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By 1958, Mattel was burning cash and running out of options. Most toy companies focused on babies, wagons, and cowboy sets.
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Remington, famous for guns, once owned a major typewriter business for decades.
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After the Civil War decimated military contracts, the Remington Arms Company desperately needed new revenue and purchased the rights to Christopher Sholes's typewriter in 1873.
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Coca-Cola once owned the world's largest commercial cattle ranch in Australia
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Fun Fact: From the 1960s through the 1990s, Coca-Cola owned a massive cattle station in Australia called Burdekin, spanning over a million acres.
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The Government Tried to Break Up Rockefeller's Empire. It Made Him Richer.
When the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil in 1911, John D. Rockefeller owned so much stock in each of the 34 successor companies that he personally became wealthier after...
The Entire U.S. Tire Industry Was Once Controlled by A Bicycle Company...
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Back in the late 1870s, Albert Augustus Pope kicked off the Pope Manufacturing Company. They initially hit it big with Columbia bicycles and then revved up into motorcycles, electric cars, and even rubber goods.
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Abercrombie once offered to pay Jersey Shore cast NOT to wear its clothes.
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Gillette gave away free razors to make billions selling blades.
Fun Fact - King Gillette pioneered one of the most influential pricing strategies in commercial history: sell the razor cheaply, then profit endlessly on replacement blades.
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Heinz once paid workers in ketchup during a 1930s cash shortage
History Fact: During the Great Depression, the H.J. Heinz Company faced such severe liquidity problems at some facilities that it temporarily compensated workers partly in product.
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Listerine was originally sold as a floor cleaner and surgical antiseptic
History Fact: When Dr. Joseph Lawrence formulated Listerine in 1879, it was marketed to surgeons as a general antiseptic, then later sold to dentists, then promoted as a floor cleaner and a cure for gonorrhea.
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Nintendo was a playing card company for 75 years before making video games.
History Fact: Founded in Kyoto in 1889, Nintendo spent the bulk of its history manufacturing hanafuda playing cards, eventually supplying casinos and dabbling in taxis and love hotels before pivoting to electronics.