The Suffern Laboratory
CP Company | The Suffern Laboratory - Later Years | More Pictures of the Suffern Laboratory
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In his 1903 autobiography and early historical account of the California Perfume Company entitled, A Brief History of the California Perfume Company, David H. McConnell recounts,
"It was in 1888 that I started the perfume business in a space scarcely larger than an ordinary kitchen pantry.
At first I manufactured but five odors: Violet, White Rose, Heliotrope, Lily-of-the-Valley and Hyacinth. I did much experimental work in making these odors, and the selling price of the first batch of perfumes I made did not cover one-half the actual cost of the goods, but experience is a great teacher, and I applied myself to the task of making perfumes with the same vim and energy that I-had in selling books and, after a short time, I fancied that I could produce as fine an odor as some of the old and tried perfumers; at least, my perfumes pleased my customers; they were the natural perfumes of the flower, made in the most natural way and by the same process employed by the large French perfumers.
I soon found it necessary to increase the odors, and to add to the line other articles for the toilet. Among those first put out were: Shampoo Cream, Witch Hazel Cream, Almond Cream Balm, Tooth Paste, which afterwards was made in the Tooth Tablet, Toilet Waters, etc.
As the business increased the laboratory must, of necessity grow, so that at the end of two years I was occupying one entire floor in this building for manufacturing purposes alone."
As the business grew, through the work of our agents, we were forced from time to time to increase our laboratory space, and in 1895 we built our own laboratory in Suffern, New York, 32 miles out on the main line of the Erie Railroad. This building has been enlarged and remodeled three different times, until today we have a building 120 feet long, main building 50 feet wide and the wing 30 feet, all three stories and basement giving us four working floors, each floor having 4,800 square feet of floor space, or a total floor capacity of 17,200 feet. This building is equipped with the best possible machinery, tile latest devices for bottling goods and so on, until I feel we can truthfully say that there is not a plant of our kind in the country so large and so well fitted for our business, as the laboratory of the California Perfume Company."
My object in locating the laboratory at Suffern was that as Suffern is my home I can give much more personal attention and supervision to the affairs of the laboratory than if it was located in New York. So that every day in the year, unless when I am out on one of my trips, visiting agents and general agents, I am at the laboratory every morning, and spend an hour with our chemist, going over his work and see that every ounce of goods, every package in every department is made and put up in the best possible shape.
NOTE: Though annotated as has been constructed in 1895, the Suffern Plant actually began original construction in 1897. For further details see the Historical Overview page.
Workers and Family In Front of the Suffern Plant Just After
Construction
~1897
Left to right:
Laura Akers (Slocum), Susie Blauvelt, Doris McConnell
(Faile), Edna McConnell (Clark), Monsey (the dog),
Alice
Akers, Eli Carey, on horse - Jessie Swan (Bond), Minnie
Abrams (Nugent), Gertrude Wanamaker (Wemmerus)
The Suffern Laboratory Staff
~Approximately
1912
Picture used by permission of the
Hagley Museum and Library
Following are several illustrations of the Suffern Laboratory's interior that were created around 1900. These illustrations were found in the early CPC catalogs—ranging in dates from 1902 to 1906.
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CP Company | The Suffern Laboratory - Later Years | More Pictures of the Suffern Laboratory