History
1000 B.C.
Egyptian Pharaohs and wealthy nobility use starch derived from
various grains (corn has not yet been discovered) in cosmetics and
as an adhesive to hold papyrus pages together. In 500 B.C. the upper
class Romans use starch to give their togas a crisp, neat look.
1841
In America, Orlando Jones is awarded U.S. patent #2000 for a process
that uses alkali to speed up starch making. The process is soon applied
to corn.
1842
Naturalized Britisher Thomas Kingsford is the first to isolate starch from kernels of corn using technology he learned from a wheat starch plant
in Jersey City, NJ. He successfully perfected the process, making
a pure laundry starch from corn.
1846
In 1846, the firm of "T. Kingsford and Son" was established in Bergen, NJ. Fast growing demand quickly forced the company to expand, and in 1848, the company built The Oswego Starch Factory in Oswego, New York "where pure water, excellent shipping facilities and water power existed". Other corn starch factories sprang up across the U.S. from western
New York and throughout the Midwest.
