Procter & Gamble
(1915)
The Procter & Gamble Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, bought this property in 1913 to build its first plant outside the United States. When operations began two years later, seven products were made here, including Ivory soap and Crisco shortening. At its peak, this plant employed over 1,000 women and men.
Procter & Gamble developed, manufactured and distributed everything from laundry, cleaning and personal care products to edible oils and industrial chemicals. At one point, the Hamilton plant turned out the greatest variety of products of any P&G plant in the world.
Over the decades, Procter & Gamble became well-known for its family recreational activities and open houses. Employees were invited to participate in the company’s profit-sharing plan as early as 1917. The company stopped manufacturing at this site and demolished a number of its original buildings on the south side of Burlington Street East in 1999. All that remains of the original buildings is a crested office building on the northeast corner of Depew Street and Burlington Street East.
Mickey McDonald began his career here in 1917 at the tender age of 12 years old. He was put to work as a framer, using an automatic nailing machine to piece together packing crates. A restored 1919 ammonia compressor from this plant is housed at the Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology.