How Innovator Robert Gair Built an Empire of Boxes in Dumbo

When asked to list the important inventors in our history, we generally forget the people who came up with the small stuff who make important improvements to the original concepts and inventions. We credit Thomas Edison with the lightbulb, but at that time it would be just another gadget too expensive for anyone but the rich in private use, had it not been for Lewis Latimer.

He invented the carbon filament inside the bulb and went on to invent ways of mass producing it, making the incandescent bulb affordable to most people. This little-known African American draftsman and patent expert worked with Alexander Graham Bell to patent his telephone and with Edison to submit his patents correctly and get them approved. We remember Bell and Edison, but they both gained fame and fortune because of Latimer. Is he remembered? Not so much.

Brooklyn inventor Thomas E. Murray had the second largest number of U.S. patents for his inventions, outdone only by Thomas Edison, who was a contemporary and friend. No one remembers Murray, but we use his inventions every time we open a fuse box, look at outdoor electric signage, or use a dimmer switch to turn down the lights. He also invented the spark plug, the electric socket, and design of the chains strapped on tires for winter driving. Is he a household name? Nope.

Brooklyn was home and work to both Latimer and Murray at some points in their lives. So many boasts and brags are made about Brooklyn, but few of those concern the industrial history and the lives and creations of the many inventors and innovators that the city has produced over the centuries.

Another important inventor and innovator was instrumental in the development and importance of the East River waterfront and industrial area we now call Dumbo. His name can still be found on the many buildings that made up his empire. For many years in the 20th century the neighborhood was nicknamed “Gairsville” after businessman and inventor Robert Gair. What did he do? Open a box of chocolates, pull a teabag out of its package and put it in the new mug Amazon just sent you, and have a seat. This is his story.

A Scottish Lad Comes to America

Robert Gair was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on July 31, 1839. His father James was a master plumber in that city. When young Robert was 12, his father lost his business, and the family with three sons and three daughters lost much of their income. Robert felt it was his duty to go out and work to support them. Encouraged by his mother’s faith in his abilities and confidence in him, young Gair felt that his prospects would be much better in America. His parents agreed and went on before him. At the age of 14, when most children are still learning where North America is on a world map, Robert boarded a ship by himself, bound for New York.

The journey on the sailing ship Dirago ran into rough seas early on but plowed through and took nine weeks to cross the Atlantic. The ship was a cotton freighter with a few passengers lodged in the hold along with the crew and their cargo. Aside from some clothing, the only thing Gair had on his person was a tool chest, a parting gift from his father. The boy made friends with the crew and spent his time mending the locks on their sea chests and repairing tools. The captain saw him working, admired his initiative, and decided to take the boy under his wing. In addition to his repair work the captain taught him how to use a sextant and record information in the ship’s log. Gair spent the rest of his voyage in the employ and mentorship of the captain, an experience he later said contained some of his fondest memories. He landed in New York in 1853.

By this time, his family was already in America, and Robert’s first job was helping his father as a plumber’s apprentice in New Jersey. His next job was in a Manhattan retail dry goods store. It was here that he began to think about how goods were packaged and sold. Then the Civil War broke out. Gail enlisted in the 79th New York Infantry Regiment, also known as the Highland Regiment, organized by the Scottish Caledonian Club in the city and comprised of Scottish immigrants. They were quite distinctive, with officers and their men in full Highland dress.

The regiment marched down to Washington to protect the North from invasion. They defended the Capitol and fought at the first Battle of Bull Run. Gair quickly rose through the ranks and became a captain. As such he commanded a regiment at the siege of Knoxville and at Spotsylvania Court House. All in all, he and his regiment were involved in 19 separate engagements. In 1864, after Spotsylvania, he mustered out and returned to New York and to his mother, Mary, and his siblings.

Not letting grass grow under his feet, Gair immediately went into business with $10,000 saved and borrowed over the years. His job at the dry goods store was influential in his choice of business. Every retail establishment at the time packaged their smaller goods in paper cones that were rolled up at the beginning of the work day. The cone was filled, and the top folded over and the package sealed with string. If that wasn’t appropriate, goods were simply wrapped with brown paper and string.

Gair thought it would be possible to do better, but first had to get into the industry. He opened a paper goods factory in what is now Tribeca in 1864, primarily as a jobber for other manufacturers, but also producing paper for packaging purposes. Although it is not generally mentioned in histories of his company, or when he was interviewed, but between 1867 and 1876 he had a partner named George West.

The young Robert Gair who repaired tools and machines on his voyage to the United States had grown into a man who still knew his way around machinery and was a talented inventor. In 1870 he invented a machine that made corrugated paper. He didn’t invent the item: The fluted paper mounted on one sheet of paper or sandwiched between two was patented in England in 1856, and was first used as a liner for men’s tall hats. It came into wider use in America 15 years later, with Gair as one of the first manufacturers.

Brown paper packaging was generic, and Gair, thinking ahead, convinced his customers that it would be advantageous to them to brand their packaging with their names. “If you are proud of your products,” he told them, “why aren’t you willing to put your name on them, so that people may learn to accept the name as a guarantee of their worth?” His customers knew he was on to something there, but thought it would be too expensive. But Gair was able to convince them that in the long run, brand name identification would pay for itself. He opened a printing component to his packaging operation, printing labels for his customer’s products. His business, at the time still in Lower Manhattan, grew.

The Cardboard Box Is Born
The 1870 accident that launched an industry-changing event began with one of Gair’s customers, a seed company that ordered hundreds of paper bags for its products. Gair’s printing machines were working on the seedman’s order. The bags were printed below the closing fold with a label identifying the type of seed. Spaced somewhat below that was a disclaimer absolving the company of blame if the crop failed. Between the two was a dividing line separating the body of texts. The pressman running this machine set the die printing the line too high and instead of just printing the line, the die cut through the paper.

Some accounts of this incident state that the error was not noticed until the customer filled his bags with seed, which spilled out through the cut causing a loss of product. An examination revealed that all the bags were sliced. The angry customer wanted the shipment recalled and cancelled all his other orders, a financial blow to the company. We don’t know if the pressman was fired, but it’s a good bet that he was.

Gair’s telling of the story doesn’t have the sliced bags leaving his factory. He noticed the cut, examined the machinery, and discovered the pressman’s mistake. It still ruined the order, which cost him money, but in the process he made a career-changing discovery. Gair would later say, “If a length of dull printing rule could accomplish so clean an incision in the paper, what would a steel rule, devised for the purpose achieve? Immediately I instructed my die-maker on what to do, and within two days the first cutting and creasing form for folding boxes was devised.”

He went on the explain that his machine shop was a vital part of his company, as they created the machines and procedures that he devised. “With its assistance,” he said, referring to the machine shop, “I converted old platen and cylinder presses into cutting and creasing presses, and thenceforth the making of folding boxes was simple and economical.” After cutting and creasing some boxes, just to make sure, he immediately headed to Washington, D.C. to get his new press patented.

The first boxes he produced were relatively small, cut from heavy card stock for the packaging of small items such as candy and food items, pharmaceuticals, and anything else that was small and previously packed in bags. Manufacturers soon realized that the flat surfaces of the new and economical boxes were excellent opportunities for branding and advertising.

The first food company to embrace this new packaging was the National Biscuit Company, which chose a Gair box to package its new cracker. Advertising lore states that Gair’s eldest son, Robert Jr., told the company head that “You need to find a name to print on this box,” to which the executive replied, “What a great idea, the name is Uneeda Biscuits.” (The National Biscuit Company liked clever names; today it’s the food giant Nabisco.)

The Creation of Dumbo’s “Gairsville”

In 1888, room for production of paper boxes had grown beyond the square footage of the Tribeca lofts Gair owned on Reade and Chambers streets. Gair needed a much larger factory and more space for the various divisions of his plant. His friend and coffee roaster John Arbuckle moved his operation and his home from Manhattan to what is now Dumbo. Gair liked the location on the shore of the East River and engaged architect Benjamin Finkensieper to design a new building on the corner of Washington and Water streets. Built in 1888, 30 Washington Street (aka 26-38 Washington Street) is a six-story round-arch style brick factory building. Beginning in 1891, the factory would expand with more bays along both streets, resulting in the large building we see today. In 1901, architect William Higginson was commissioned to design another six-story brick warehouse just across the street. Higginson designed a building very similar in design.

Gair not only moved his factory to Brooklyn, he also moved with his wife, Emma, and their children to a new family home. In 1889 he purchased a mansion at 120 New York Avenue, on the northeast corner of Bergen Street in Bedford, now Crown Heights North. That area, known as the St. Marks District, was becoming a “gold coast,” a wealthy area of large homes surrounded by ample grounds. It was much like Clinton Avenue in Clinton Hill, where his friend John Arbuckle built his home. Unfortunately, no photographs or drawings of the house have been found, but it clearly appears on the 1888 Sanborn insurance map as a large freestanding masonry house on a corner lot that takes up half the block.

Robert Gair’s box folding machines could turn out varied sizes of boxes for all sorts of merchandise. It wasn’t long before everyone wanted to use them. Their invention had the largest impact on the grocery industry. Goods could now be pre-measured and boxed uniformly, making packing, storing, and purchasing items so much easier than in the days of measuring perishables out of barrels that were often hard to store and vulnerable to rats and insects. The Kellogg Company in Michigan was the first cereal manufacturer to box their goods.

The paper boxes he was producing at that time were primarily made of various weights of card stock. Gair took these boxes one step further and began manufacturing corrugated boxes, the shipping boxes we use to this day. At this time, he was producing many different products. In addition to the various boxes, his business printed bags, labels, and advertising materials. He needed more room.

Gair was a driven man with a highly popular and lucrative product. But in June 1900, he was in a serious accident. He was tinkering in his factory when a heavy piece of machinery fell on his left foot, crushing it. A nearby doctor was called, the wound dressed, and he was sent home in his carriage. Other doctors were consulted, and the consensus was that most of his foot would need to be amputated. The operation was performed. Gair, the Civil War veteran, withstood the pain and was said to recover rapidly — and made to stay home to recover.

It wouldn’t be surprising if while resting he began thinking about his still growing business and plans for expansion. In 1901 he authored and printed a book entitled, “What We Do and How We Do It: A Historical Sketch of the House of Robert Gair and a Description of the Many Departments That Comprise It.” The book was both biographical and a big advertisement for the company. He did have a fascinating life story, after all, and his boxes were game-changing. The book listed the many companies for which he made packaging and labels as well as the other paper products and printing his company produced. The company’s customers named in the book, which is available online, included “popular brand names such as Social Tea Biscuits, Saltines, Braham Crackers, Uneeda Biscuits, and Arrow Root Biscuits,” according to the according to the LPC designation report for the Dumbo Historic District. As well, the company’s departments comprised “photo engraving, metal plate engraving, color printing, label cutting, lithography, aluminum printing, stamping, embossing, gold leaf embossing, and the manufacture of commercial stationery, doilies, envelopes, and folding boxes.”

By this time in his career, Gair had become a major real estate investor and developer of industrial buildings in Dumbo. He purchased the old Brooklyn White Lead Company factory on Washington Street with intentions of tearing it down for a newer and larger brick factory. He sent his nephew James Beattie down south to source timbers for its construction. Beattie was having trouble finding wood, but while in Jacksonville, Florida he saw fireproof concrete being used to rebuild the city after a devastating fire. He was impressed and told his cousin George Gair about it. George did some research of his own, agreed and contacted the Turner Construction Company.

Henry Turner’s company was still relatively new when the younger Gair contacted him. From his offices in Lower Manhattan, Turner was sure that reinforced concrete construction was the wave of the future, but he hadn’t really built a concrete building yet. He and George convinced Robert, and William Higginson was brought back to design a reinforced concrete building, one that would be fireproof, a big concern for a paper factory. Higginson was not totally convinced that concrete was the best way to go either, but designed 41-49 Washington Street in 1904.

The NYC Department of Buildings took almost a year to approve the plans, as this was one of the first reinforced concrete buildings in the 20th century, and they wanted to run tests regarding fire, water, and load. The permit was issued in 1905 and construction began. By the time it was finished, Higginson was a convert to reinforced concrete for factory construction. He would go on to design eight Gair buildings between 1904 and 1916, each one a little better than the other as his confidence and knowledge of the material improved. Turner’s construction of 41-49 Washington Street put him on the radar as an expert in this type of construction. He’d go on to build all eight Gair buildings, and many, many more. Today, Turner Construction is a multi-national firm.

In 1913, the Gair firm employed 1,702 people throughout his complex, already known by everyone as “Gairville.” His employees organized various sporting and other associations within the company, establishing baseball, bowling, tennis, and other sports clubs and social events. By the beginning of World War I, he had 2,500 employees, which rose to 3,000. He and his employees donated $23,000 dollars to the Red Cross during the war. He also mandated a five-day work week, with no Saturday hours, a rarity back then. It was such a rarity that it was mentioned in several articles, including his obituary in the New York Times.

The company went public in 1913, with an offering of half of the $2 million in preferred stock open to the public. The other half stayed in the family. The offering also included $5 million of common stock. For many years, the stock did quite well. Gair continued to expand his business, buying out other companies and moving his production to locations across the country, including plants in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and upstate New York. In 1920, Robert’s sons George and Robert Jr. took over the management of the company.

A 1927 story in the Brooklyn Eagle stated that Gair styled himself as the “Father of Concrete Construction.” He told the interviewer that it was his idea to build in concrete to protect his equipment and goods. He said that when 41-49 Washington Street went up, before it was completed, he stood on the top floor, stacked a large pile of brick and stone and set it on fire. A few hours later, he called the Fire Department to put it out. His test showed there was no damage to the concrete and no other structural damage to the building. Other versions of this story state that both Gair and Turner set a bonfire on the roof, with the same results, but when the building was completed.

By 1920, Gair had more buildings than any other manufacturing company in the area. By now he was more interested in the real estate part of his operation. He rented out floors or entire buildings to other companies. His largest tenant was the Charles Williams Stores, an invented name made up by the mail order company’s owner, John Arbuckle. The company’s headquarters was in 1 Main Street, called Charles William Stores Building #5. The first and second floors of the building were used for shipping, with merchandise dropped down from higher floors. Offices for executive and others were in this building. When it was built in 1914, it was the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world. Today, its iconic clock tower still makes it one of the most identifiable buildings in Dumbo.

The Gair family life at 120 New York Avenue included all the social events that the elites of Brooklyn society enjoyed, including the four daughters’ “coming out” parties and dances, engagements, and weddings. The eldest child, Florence, became a well-known doctor of osteopathy. Gair had a building constructed at 1143 Bergen Street, just around the corner from their home, as an office for her work with children. Her practice led to many opportunities for the family to provide financial aid to patients’ families when needed.

The family celebrated Robert’s 87th birthday and 59th wedding anniversary in 1926. The Gair family had a summer home called Dunedin-on-the-Dunes in Westhampton Beach. As he got older and started to slow down, Robert spent more time there. On July 31, 1927, his 88th birthday, he suffered a stroke and died at the house. His wife and children were all around him, save one, Florence, who was in Europe at the time. His church funeral was well attended, followed by a service conducted by his chapter of the Grant Post, G.A.R., the Union Army veteran’s organization. The family gathered for the funeral there, and both Robert and Emma Gair are buried in the Westhampton cemetery.

After his death the family sold the New York Avenue house, and Emma moved to East 70th Street in Manhattan. She died in 1931 at the age of 86. The property was purchased by the Montfort Realty Company, which demolished the house and Florence’s clinic and built Concord Hall in 1928, a six-story apartment building with 72 units. The Hall was but one of the many six-story buildings that replaced freestanding mansions on St. Marks Avenue and surrounding streets between 1924 and 1935.

Robert Jr. was vice president of the company until 1930, at which time he resigned to assume the presidency of the Gair Realty Company and Gair Properties. He died at 75 in 1937. His older brother George had been appointed president of the company by his father in 1920. He became chairman of the board in 1927, a position he held until his death in 1940 at the age of 68. By the mid-1950s, the Robert Gair Company had plants in 48 locations in the United States and Canada.

In 1956 the company was acquired by the Continental Can Company. The metal can giant already had printing and packaging components, and the Gair Company and its products dissolved into Continental. The Gair name would be totally forgotten today, were it not for the emergence of a gentrified Dumbo. Purchased in 1981 by David Walentas, the Gair buildings were rehabbed as a mixture of high-end residential units, office, and light manufacturing spaces. In 2007, the formerly industrial neighborhood was landmarked. The Gair name incised on the buildings remains a prominent reminder that Dumbo was once called Gairville, home of the cardboard box king.

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