Established in 1844 in Dayton, Ohio, as the J.P. Davies Company, Buckeye International, Inc., started as a manufacturer of oil for lamp fuel and lubrication products. The first big change to the J.P. Davies Company came in 1888, when the company began using petroleum products to manufacture soap. Five years later, the forerunner to Buckeye International, Inc., became the first company in the United States to sell boxed chip soap to commercial buyers. In 1905, the company began selling boxes of chip soap to individual consumers for household use.
When the company incorporated itself under Ohio state law in 1914, the predecessor to Buckeye International, Inc., changed its name to the Davies-Young Soap Company, in order to reflect the firm’s adopted concentration on cleaning products. Less than a decade later, the company adopted “Buckeye” as its brand name, though it did not adopt the name Buckeye International, Inc., until 1990.
Having relocated its headquarters from Ohio to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1972, Buckeye International, Inc., spent the mid- to late 1970s introducing progressive safety programs and procedures for both workers and the environment, largely involving improvements to packaging and the products themselves. Instead of merely keeping up with industry standards, the company hired its own team of expert chemists to pioneer and patent new compounds. One of the major breakthroughs made by Buckeye International, Inc., scientists was the creation of Liquescent, a water-based cleaning solution that functions as effectively as other leading cleaners without the need for harsh chemicals such as ammonia, butyl, alcohol, and other solvents.
The first company to market the “bag in a box” concept in the cleaning and maintenance products industry, Buckeye International, Inc., continues to pioneer more effective and environmentally friendly products and packaging, such as waste-reducing proportioning systems and product containers that use 60 percent less plastic than common rigid packaging. At present, Buckeye International, Inc., caters to a wide array of commercial enterprises, including correctional facilities, long-term care centers, hospitals, schools, and community sports centers such as the YMCA.
