Do you know whether your hometown is the world’s capital of a special product? There are many cities across this great country, as well as the world, which are famously recognized for one specialty, or another. Cities are known as the capital of underwear, pink flamingos, zippers, toilet paper, or toothpicks, just to name a few. It is fascinating to learn what has allowed cities to claim superiority to a particular item and then sometimes their fall from that superiority status.
Minneapolis was known as the Underwear Capital of the World from the late 1800s until the 1980s. Underwear was made of wool until George Munsing moved from New York to Minneapolis and created “itchless” underwear for both men and women (Itchless para 9). The public …show more content…
A man named Tadao Yoshida is the founder of Yoshida Manufacturing Shareholding Company, also known as YKK (Kurobe para 11). He copied the successful zipper product produced by the Talon Corporation in Pennsylvania and created a variety of zippers (Kurobe para 12). By 1974 YKK was making one quarter of the world’s zippers and he continues to expand his market (Kurobe para 14). Northern Paper’s development of toilet paper launched Green Bay, Wisconsin, to become the Toilet Paper Capital of the World. When outhouses were in use, newspaper, magazines and catalog pages were used for wiping (Green para 8). Not until indoor plumbing became a mainstay did Northern Paper Mills produce bath tissue (Green para 11). By 1920 they were the largest producer (Green para 12). This helped Green Bay tremendously during the Great Depression (Green para 12). Northern Paper has worked very hard to make the toilet paper used today as soft as possible (Green para …show more content…
Charles Forster worked tirelessly to open his toothpick mill in Strong (Strong para 11). The first toothpicks were flat, but he also created the round toothpick (Strong para 12). His toothpicks became a status symbol (Strong para 15). After World War II, picking your teeth was frowned upon, and some people claimed injury from toothpicks (Strong para 18). Eventually toothpick sales dropped drastically and mills closed. Forster’s mill was the last to close, ending the age of the Strong toothpick (Strong para
Minneapolis was known as the Underwear Capital of the World from the late 1800s until the 1980s. Underwear was made of wool until George Munsing moved from New York to Minneapolis and created “itchless” underwear for both men and women (Itchless para 9). The public …show more content…
A man named Tadao Yoshida is the founder of Yoshida Manufacturing Shareholding Company, also known as YKK (Kurobe para 11). He copied the successful zipper product produced by the Talon Corporation in Pennsylvania and created a variety of zippers (Kurobe para 12). By 1974 YKK was making one quarter of the world’s zippers and he continues to expand his market (Kurobe para 14). Northern Paper’s development of toilet paper launched Green Bay, Wisconsin, to become the Toilet Paper Capital of the World. When outhouses were in use, newspaper, magazines and catalog pages were used for wiping (Green para 8). Not until indoor plumbing became a mainstay did Northern Paper Mills produce bath tissue (Green para 11). By 1920 they were the largest producer (Green para 12). This helped Green Bay tremendously during the Great Depression (Green para 12). Northern Paper has worked very hard to make the toilet paper used today as soft as possible (Green para …show more content…
Charles Forster worked tirelessly to open his toothpick mill in Strong (Strong para 11). The first toothpicks were flat, but he also created the round toothpick (Strong para 12). His toothpicks became a status symbol (Strong para 15). After World War II, picking your teeth was frowned upon, and some people claimed injury from toothpicks (Strong para 18). Eventually toothpick sales dropped drastically and mills closed. Forster’s mill was the last to close, ending the age of the Strong toothpick (Strong para