Esterbrook

As Americana and nostalgia for the past have come into favour, iconic American brands are being reborn in the cities where they first achieved fame. For one hundred years Esterbrook was the pride of Camden, NJ. Today, it’s been moved 120 miles north to Kenro headquarters in Mineola, NY, where its storied past will forever be a part of its promising future.

In 1858, entrepreneur Richard Esterbrook established his pen company under the trademark Esterbrook Pen Company, which would soon become one of the biggest and most beloved pen makers in the world. At its height, Esterbrook was the largest pen manufacturer in the United States. It produced 216,000,000 pens a year, 600,000 pens a day, made by its 450 workers. 

Much of America’s history has been written and created with Esterbrook pens. U.S. presidents Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation with their Esterbrook pens. Famous Disney artist Carl Banks brought Donald Duck to life with an Esterbrook No 356. Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz used the No 914 for all his comics. All the while millions of students grew up learning to write using Esterbrook pens. It is fair to say that these visionaries, and artists, helped Esterbrook to become an integrated part of America’s politics and culture in the 19th and 20th centuries.