Object Record
Images
Metadata
Collection |
Waterloo Region Museum |
Object ID |
2011.080.004 |
Object Name |
Package, Product |
Description |
Small, square cardboard box with a removable lid. Both the lid and the body of the box are covered with white paper. Printed on the top of the lid in blue is "Cress/Wound Aids/Pliable/Plastic/Trade Mark Registered in Canada and U.S.A./10% Quaternary Ammonium Salt/Solution Applied to Pad". There is an outline of a blue rectangle in the centre of the box with "Clear/Skin-Like/Soft/Sanitary/for Cuts, Blisters, Small Wounds" printed in it. Printed below the rectangle is "Originated and Manufactured By/Cress Laboratories/Kitchener, Ont., Canada/We Recommend Reading Directions Reverse/Side Before Applying/Patent App. For Canada and U.S.A.". Printed on the front edge is "Cress Pliable Plastic Wound Aids/Contains/100 Individual Dressings/Style C1"; on the back edge is "Aide Blessures en Plastique/Cress/Marque Deposee". Printed on the left side end is "An Original Cress Development/for/Hospitals Doctors and/Factory First Aid Departments". On the right side end "Cress is designed for a neat streamlined dressing." is printed. Printed on the bottom of the body are directions for use and information on the antiseptic used in the bandages. The box is empty. |
Date |
1940 |
Date |
1950 |
Dimensions |
H-8.5 W-8.5 D-2.7 cm |
History |
Noah Cress (1864-1948) was the son of Levi Cress (1837-1916) and Mary Ann Geib (1845-1928) of St. Jacobs, ON. In 1903, he married Regina (Ricki) Schweitzer (1869-1943), daughter of Martin Schweitzer (1832-1911) and Philippine Flehr (1843-1917) of Conestogo, ON. Noah was initially a photographer but in the 1920s he developed corn and bunion salves which he began to sell door-to-door. Noah's only child, Marion (1907-1997) married Henry Heldmann (1906-1972), son of Henry Heldmann (1859-1943) and Anna Caroline Ruthig (1866-?) of Philipsburg, ON in 1931. Marion and Henry took an interest in the salves and that same year, formed Cress Laboratories in Kitchener, ON. The company grew and expanded its product line during the 1940s, and in 1951, the company held the US patent for the first plastic adhesive bandages called Wound Aids. The patent was bought by Johnson and Johnson in 1955. The company continued to be owned and operated by the Heldmann family, including Marion and Henry's two sons, John and James, until it closed in 1997. The last factory for Cress Laboratories was in the former Pine Grove schoolhouse at 4336 King Street East in Preston. As of 2012, the building is the Borealis Restaurant on Heldmann Road near Sportsworld Drive in Kitchener. |
Search Terms |
Cress Laboratories Limited |
People |
Heldmann, Henry Heldmann, Marion Cress Cress, Noah |