William Wrigley Jr.: Wrigley's Chewing Gum Founder
www abdopublishing com Published by Abdo Publishing a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher Checkerboard Library is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 052014 092014 Cover Photos Corbis Getty Images Interior Photos Alamy p 18 AP Images p 26 Corbis pp 1 7 16 23 Getty Images p 11 iStockphoto pp 22 25 courtesy William Wrigley Jr Company pp 5 8 9 10 13 14 15 17 19 21 24 Series Coordinator BreAnn Rumsch Editors Tamara L Britton BreAnn Rumsch Art Direction Cover Design Neil Klinepier Library of Congress Control Number 2014941024 Mattern Joanne 1963 William Wrigley Jr Wrigley’s Chewing Gum founder Joanne Mattern p cm Food dudes ISBN 978-1-62403-498-5 1 Wrigley William 1861-1932 Juvenile literature 2 Wm Wrigley Jr Company History Juvenile literature 3 Businessmen United States Biography Juvenile literature 4 Chewing gum industry United States History Juvenile literature I Title HD9970 5 C454W756 2015 338 7’6646 dc23 B 2014941024
Contents Young William 4 Working Boy 6 Soap Salesman 8 Starting a Family 10 Perfect Premiums 12 Big Competition 14 Chew on This 16 Fantastic Flavors 18 Play Ball 20 Island Escape 22 Chicago Landmark 24 Values and Vision 26 Timeline 28 More to Chew 29 Glossary 30 Websites 31 Index 32
William Wrigley Jr Wrigley’s Chewing Gum Founder Young William You probably agree that chewing gum is a fun tasty treat However this simple product was not always as popular as it is today When William Wrigley Jr started his chewing gum company he used creative strategies to sell gum Today the William Wrigley Jr Company brands are world famous On September 30 1861 William Wrigley Jr was born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania William was named for his father His mother was Mary Ladley Wrigley Eventually William had seven brothers and sisters William’s mother cared for him and the other children She also cared for the family’s home William’s father was a soap maker In 1870 he started the Wrigley Manufacturing Company to sell his soap The company was very successful William took an interest in his father’s business right away So in 1871 his father let him help sell soap from a basket William sold a lot of Wrigley’s Mineral Scouring Soap on the streets of Philadelphia William Wrigley Jr found success through creatively advertising his products 4
