 | |
| Formerly | Larkin Soap Company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1875 in Buffalo, New York |
| Defunct | 1942 |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | John D. Larkin, Elbert Hubbard, Darwin D. Martin |
| Products | "Combination Box," "Sweet Home Soap," "Boraxine" soap powder, "Jet" harness soap, "Oatmeal" toilet soap, Glycerine, "Pure White" toilet soap, and "Ocean Bath" soap |
| Services | Mail-order |
| Owner | John D. Larkin |
The Larkin Company, also known as the Larkin Soap Company, was a company founded in 1875 in Buffalo, New York as a small soap factory. It grew tremendously throughout the late 1800s and into the first quarter of the 1900s with an approach called "The Larkin Idea" that transformed the company into a mail-order conglomerate that employed 2,000 people and had annual sales of $28.6 million (equivalent to $434,986,000 in 2023) in 1920. The company's success allowed them to hire Frank Lloyd Wright to design the iconic Larkin Administration Building which stood as a symbol of Larkin prosperity until the company's demise in the 1940s.