When Herbert F. Johnson, Sr., second-generation leader of SC Johnson, joined his father’s company in 1892, the floor wax business was just getting started. A small two-floor shop in Racine, Wisconsin, produced Paste Wax for sale in the U.S. Midwest. But after Herbert’s father, Samuel, took out a small ad in The Saturday Evening Post, products started flying off the shelf. It was time, Herbert knew, to expand.
In 1906, Herbert became a partner, making S.C. Johnson & Son a family company in name as well as practice. Before long, the father-and-son business had grown to include new product lines from liquid wax, to electric floor polishers, to automotive products.