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A Brief History...
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The Beistle Company
Founded in 1900 by Martin Luther Beistle (“M.L.”) of Walnut Creek, Pennsylvania
, in the basement of his home, the Beistle Company has served for over a century
as a shining example of a family-owned and operated business at its best.
A company with such small beginnings has grown to become one of today’s largest
American party and novelty manufacturers.
In 1908, as the company expanded, M.L. moved the business to larger facilities in
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania . The renowned Beistle catalog, distributed for
the first time in 1909, featured a growing line of Christmas decorations—artificial
wreaths, gift tags, Santa Claus stamps, wrapping paper, greeting cards, and other
little printed Christmas novelties. In 1917, after patenting a method for
honeycombed tissue production (a Beistle specialty), the company turned its primary
concentration to the manufacture of printed and tissue paper products, which would
become Beistle’s distinguishing feature. During this time, Halloween decorations
were added to the line, around 1919, soon followed by Easter in 1921, St. Patrick’s
Day in 1934, and Thanksgiving in 1938. Seasonal and everyday décor items were later
added as the Beistle Company product line continued to expand to meet the demands
of its customers.
Having outlasted the majority of their holiday decoration contemporaries, the Beistle
Company, which continues to operate out of their vast facility in Shippensburg,
remains a strong, progressive enterprise in American business.
The Dennison Manufacturing Company
From the time of its arrival in Framingham, Massachusetts , the Dennison Manufacturing
Company maintained its position as the town’s largest employer for nearly half a
century. To most Americans, the Dennison name evokes paper products.
The founder of the business was E.W. Dennison, who in 1844 went into the box-making
business with his older brother, Aaron. It was Aaron who actually started
this enterprise and was responsible for its successful launch. Aaron, a watchmaker
by trade, was unhappy about selling his fine watches in poorly made jewelry boxes
imported from England . He invested $7.50 in pasteboard and glazed and enameled
papers and took them to his father, a cobbler in Brunswick, Maine , along with a
proposal for making sturdy, handsome boxes for packaging jewelry. Colonel
Dennison would use various tools to cut out the parts on his cobbler bench, and
his daughters would help assemble, paste, and finish the boxes. These were
the first paper boxes made in America .
As the company grew, Dennison Manufacturing would become the recognized leader in
the market for shipping tags, crepe paper, and stationery items such as gummed labels
and stars. The popularity of crepe paper and the design of holiday tags for the
Christmas season would be the impetus for the creation of their ‘Holiday Line’.
This division of Dennison (which is no longer in business today) grew into a source
for hundreds of items for every major holiday. Dennison also created “Parties” books,
promoting ideas for themed parties (such as Halloween), geared towards adults.
In the early 1990s the Dennison Manufacturing Company merged with Avery International
Corporation to become Avery Dennison Corporation, now based in Pasadena, California
Eureka Resale Company/The Paper Magic Group
The Eureka Resale Company had its start in the early 1950s in the town of Dunmore
, Pennsylvania . During those early formative years, they became the manufacturer
of the hugely popular S & H Green Stamps. It soon became apparent to Eureka
that, if they could print green stamps on gummed paper, perhaps they could print
cute pictures on this same paper— and so their gummed seals were born! These
seals came in a small booklet form and featured both seasonal and everyday designs
that were useful for both home and school use.
In the 1960s, Eureka expanded into seasonal paper cutout decorations for window
and wall use, as well as honeycombed–tissue centerpieces. Eventually, this
line would include products for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s
Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter, as well as everyday merchandise. Over
the years, Eureka added a variety of other products—gift tags, stationery, and school
classroom supplies, banners, and bulletin board sets.
The Paper Magic Group, Inc., was founded in 1974 as Eureka Resale Products, Inc.,
when Phil adelphia Industries purchased Eureka Resale, setting up offices for marketing
and manufacturing in nearby Scranton and Troy . In 1984 the name of the company
was changed officially to The Paper Magic Group, which has since expanded into numerous
seasonal and product categories.
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