During the current “toilet paper war,” I thought readers might be interested in the history of that most sought-after possession.
The first packaged toilet paper was invented in 1867 by an American named Joseph Gayetty. He called it Gayetty’s Medicated Paper.
Later that same year, Thomas and Clarence Scott, brothers of Philadelphia, Pa., marketed toilet paper on a roll and sold their product from push carts. This was the beginning of the Scott Paper Company.
In 1880, Walter Alcock of the British Paper Company created paper on a roll for wiping “down there.” The paper came in boxes of small pre-cut squares.
It must have taken toilet paper a long time to be used to any extent in Graham County. Richard Sears of Sears, Roebuck, and Company issued their first catalog in 1894. Pages from those catalogs became toilet paper for many in Graham County in the outhouses so common in that day. The glossy pages didn’t work very well.
On many farms, corn cobs were used, first the red cob, then the white cob to make sure the job was done. Still in use today by some that spend time in the woods are leaves.
Just make sure you don’t use leaves that come in threes and grows on a vine.
Marshall McClung is a columnist for The Graham Star.