William Wrigley, Jr.

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William Wrigley, Jr.’s chewing gum empire became the world’s largest, fueled by bold marketing and nationwide distribution.

Bain News Service photograph collection—Prints and Photographs Division/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (2014710056)

William Wrigley, Jr. (born September 30, 1861, in Philadelphia; died January 26, 1932, in Phoenix) was an American salesman and manufacturer whose company became the largest producer and distributor of chewing gum in the world.

Wrigley went to work as a traveling soap salesman for his father’s company at age 13. In 1891, he went to Chicago as a soap distributor and there started offering baking powder as a premium with each box of soap.

In 1892, he began selling baking powder as a sideline, offering chewing gum as a premium. The chewing gum proved more popular than the baking powder, so he dropped both soap and baking powder to sell only chewing gum. He also gave dealers premiums, such as clocks, coffee grinders, or fishing tackle, which varied with the size of the order.

Wrigley relied on advertising to boost sales of Wrigley’s Spearmint chewing gum, which he introduced in 1893. By 1908, sales of Wrigley’s Spearmint were more than $1 million a year. In 1911, Wrigley took over Zeno Manufacturing, the company that made his chewing gum, and established the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company.

The company became one of the biggest advertisers in the United States. By 1925, when Wrigley turned the company presidency over to his son, Philip, and became chairman of the board, the Wrigley company had factories in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Wrigley was the developer of Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of Southern California. From 1921 until 1951 (except during World War II), a National League baseball club, the Chicago Cubs, a Wrigley family interest, spent spring training on Catalina. Wrigley’s Chicago headquarters, the Wrigley Building, became a noted architectural landmark of that city.