William Wrigley Jr.: Founder of the Wrigley Chewing Gum Company

About William Wrigley Jr.: Founder of the Wrigley Chewing Gum Company

William Mills Wrigley Jr. (September 30, 1861 to January 26, 1932) was an American chewing gum industrialist who founded the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 1891. He was born in Philadelphia, the son of Mary Ann Ladley and William Mills Wrigley Sr., in a family of English-descended Quakers. In 1891 Wrigley moved from Philadelphia to Chicago to go into business for himself with $32 to his name and formed a business selling Wrigley's Scouring Soap. He offered customers small premiums, particularly baking powder, as an incentive to buy, but found the baking powder was more popular than the soap, so he switched to selling baking powder and gave customers two packages of chewing gum with each can. Again the premium proved more popular than the base product, and his company began to concentrate on making and selling chewing gum, which made his name and fortune. Wrigley also played an instrumental role in the development of Santa Catalina Island, California, off the shore of Long Beach, buying a controlling interest in the Santa Catalina Island Company. Sources: English Wikipedia (William Wrigley Jr., accessed September 2026).

Basic Information

Founder, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company (1861-1932)

Company Details

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company

Chewing Gum, Confectionery

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