Manufacturer SOMERVILLE INDUSTRIES LTD.

McCormick's Jersey Cream Sodas Cracker Box

DateEarly 20th Century

DimensionsOverall: 30 x 36 x 26 cm

Credit LineGift of Mr. Edward Phelps, London, Ontario, 1977.

Object number1977.063.002

Label TextLondon's Somerville Box Company made this McCormick's box. To begin, the McCormick’s Biscuit Company was C. R. Somerville’s only customer. Soon, workers in his factory turned out boxes for milliners, jewellers, druggists, corset makers, hardware merchants, and more. Thomas McCormick emigrated from Ireland about 1849. He settled briefly in Buffalo, where he met his future wife, and then moved in the early 1850s to London, where he worked for several years as a grocery clerk. In 1858, he began manufacturing confectionary - primarily hard candy - on a small scale for local, wholesale distribution, competing with another London confectioner, Daniel Simmons Perrin, who had established his business four years earlier. McCormick's was one of the first Canadian manufacturers of food products to adopt unit packaging for retail sales when, in 1880, the company began distributing soda-biscuits in three-pound paperboard boxes. Prior to this time, biscuits were distributed to retail stores in bulk. In the 1890s, McCormick adopted another marketing technique: the use of trade names and trademarks. He began distributing Jersey Cream Sodas, a premium product so named to differentiate it from his standard goods, but also to form a link with the consumer who was expected to recognize its superior qualities and remain loyal to the brand. In 1926, McCormick’s purchased competitor, D. S. Perrin, and Company. Together, they became the Canada Biscuit Company. After changing hands multiple times, the factory closed in 2006.

NameBox, Biscuit