Who invented wrapping paper?

96 years ago, two brothers stumbled into a multi-billion dollar business

Wrapping paper
(Image credit: (Thinkstock))

Stationery purveyors J.C. and Rollie Hall ran into a problem during the 1917 holiday season: Business had been too good at their Kansas City, Mo., shop, and they'd run out of the white, red, and green tissue papers that were the era's standard gift dressing.

By 1919, the brothers had decided to print their own special paper for concealing presents, and the gift wrap business was born.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Today, wrapping paper is a $3.2 billion industry, and you can buy it by the roll at the Halls' store, Hallmark.