When was the first roll of toilet paper made and by whom?

This is one of the questions people ask the most.

Scott Paper Company, founded in 1879 by brothers E. Irvin and Clarence Scott in Philadelphia and specialized in producing toilet paper, marketed the first rolls of toilet paper. At first they purchased paper and tissue from outside suppliers and cut, rolled and packaged the paper. They converted large parent rolls of tissue into small rolls and stacked sheets and began to market the product through drug and variety stores under private label names.

In 1896, Irvin's son Arthur joined the company at the age of 21 and he convinced his father and uncle, to phase out their private label business and concentrate on their own brand names. With this, Scott purchased the private label name Waldorf from a Philadelphian 'paper jobber' named Albert DeCernea in 1902, and began producing this as their first brand name. As sales grew, it became evident that production changes were necessary to guarantee consistency.

In 1910, Scott bought an abandoned soap factory in Chester, 5 miles south of Philadelphia for $85,000 and began making their own parent rolls of tissue, 72" wide at 150-200 feet per minute instead of buying from others. Rolls were sold with either 650 or 1,000 perforated sheets. In 1915, Scott installed an advanced, high-speed Fourdrinier papermaking machine. It made paper 148" wide at 500 feet per minute. In 1921, their brand, Waldorf represented 64% of Scott's total case sales. By 1925 Scott became the leading toilet paper company in the world. (On July 17, 1995 Scott was acquired by Kimberly Clark).

The above information is provided courtesy of ToiletPaperWorld where you can purchase the leading brands of toilet paper at low prices.