From the archives

1919

In 1919, Johnson & Johnson opened its first international operating company, in Canada. For the three decades prior, Johnson & Johnson had maintained a presence in Canada through its sales agents, the Gilmour Brothers. Products were shipped from New Brunswick and distributed across Canada by them. The success of the Montreal factory team, comprised only of Canadians, set the precedent for locally managed operating units, which guided Johnson & Johnson’s global expansion. A few decades later, Johnson & Johnson built an expanded surgical dressings plant in Montreal.

1925

Before Johnson & Johnson established its operating company in Australia, it sold company products to locals through sales agents, Potter & Birks. Potter & Birks even published an Australian counterpart to the Red Cross Messenger, the company’s publication for retail pharmacists. The journal promoted Johnson & Johnson products, while educating pharmacists about the company’s values and offering tips of the trade.

1931

Johnson & Johnson opened its first Australian operating company in 1931. Before the launch, the company had already developed a presence there. Their sales agents, Potter & Birks, sold Johnson & Johnson products in Australia starting in the late 1800s. Over time, Johnson & Johnson expanded its reach and made the company a household name in Australia.

1957

This photograph shows the Johnson & Johnson building in Mulund, India. In 1957, the company opened its first operating company in India.

1886

The first Johnson & Johnson factory opened in 1886, in a building formerly occupied by a leading wallpaper company. In addition to the founders, Johnson & Johnson hired 14 employees: eight women and six men. Within a year, due to its success, the company expanded into two adjacent buildings to meet the growing demand for its mass-produced sterile medical products.

1912

The Johnson & Johnson Suspensory and Soap Building was one of the company’s early manufacturing structures along the Raritan River in New Brunswick. Once products were packaged and sealed, they were shipped by rail and along the waterway to commercial hubs across the East Coast and beyond.

1915

Constructed during the 1910s, the Neverslip Building housed offices and later hosted an exhibit celebrating Johnson & Johnson’s 35th anniversary. It was built on the site of Johnson & Johnson’s original 1886 factory. Two of the company’s early buildings can be seen in the background of this image.

1894

Based on the discoveries of German scientist Robert Koch, Johnson & Johnson pioneered industrial steam sterilization in 1891. Previously, the company sterilized products by hand, an arduous process. The revolutionary techniques not only sped up the company’s production of sterile surgical supplies but ensured that each product was uniformly germ-free.

1894

Before 1907, the Johnson & Johnson Gauze Mill used steam-powered machinery to mass-produce sterile dressings and gauze bandages. In that year, the company converted its factories to electricity, but belt-driven machines remained. This meant that energy was centrally generated and then distributed throughout the production facilities via line shafts connected to an elaborate system of belts and pulleys to power each machine.

1910

Johnson & Johnson’s cotton storage shed was once home to the Pennsylvania Railroad Freight House in New Brunswick, New Jersey. After the old wooden building was decommissioned, it was acquired by Johnson & Johnson and used to store raw cotton before it was processed in the company mill.

1901

Many of Johnson & Johnson’s early sterile surgical supplies were made with cotton. As demand for these products increased, the company expanded its cotton mill. Construction on the mill began in 1899 and was completed by 1901. During the next decade, as need continued to grow, Johnson & Johnson added a large extension in 1908 to further expand production.

1893

To keep up with the company’s growth, Johnson & Johnson moved into increasingly larger buildings along the Raritan River. Just a decade after this 1893 photograph was taken, the company had grown from its original building to 35 New Brunswick spaces that included a cotton mill, plaster-making facilities, manufacturing workshops, offices, and shipping warehouses.