The History of Toilet Paper

When it comes to the origin of what we would today recognize as toilet paper, the historical accounts are hopelessly inconsistent. (The Web, of course, is of little help, since—as usual—most accounts are plagiarized.) Here are what I believe to be the verifiable facts:

• In 1857, Joseph Gayetty (not “Gayette” or “Cayetty,” as his name is often misspelled) produced the first commercially available toilet paper in the U.S. The tissue was moistened with aloe and sold in packages of 500 individual sheets—each one with a watermark bearing Gayetty’s name. It was sold as a medical product, and was not terribly successful.
• Brothers Edward, Clarence, and Thomas Scott began selling some kind of toilet paper from a push cart in Philadelphia in 1867. (I have been unable to determine what sort of paper this was or where they obtained it, but I assume it was not rolled, perforated paper—they most likely would not have had the means to manufacture it and I could find no record of other companies making it at that time.)
• In 1879, Edward and Clarence Scott founded the Scott Paper Company (the third brother, Thomas, went into the publishing business instead). Scott toilet paper was sold in rolls that were, apparently, unperforated in the early years. In addition, the company did not market their products under the Scott brand initially—not wanting to, ah, soil the family’s good name.
• The British Perforated Paper Company began selling some kind of toilet paper—probably not rolled—in England in 1880.
• By 1883, at least one patent had been issued for a toilet paper roll holder that had a serrated cutting blade.
• The Albany Perforated Wrapping (A.P.W.) Paper Company was selling rolled, perforated (and medicated) toilet paper by 1885—and possibly as early as 1877.
• A 1935 ad for Northern Tissue boasted that it was “splinter-free,” but this does not in any way suggest that all toilet paper prior to that time had splinters!
• The first two-ply paper was sold by St. Andrew’s Paper Mill in England in 1942.

The biggest uncertainty in this time line is whether the Scott brothers or the A.P.W. Company can lay claim to the first sale of the ubiquitous perforated roll. (Some sources, incidentally, claim that Scott didn’t begin selling rolled toilet paper until 1890—but also claim they were the first to do so.) In any case, by the early 1900s—at which time, not coincidentally, flush toilets began to achieve popularity—toilet paper as we now know it was easily found in both the U.S. and Europe. And in the 1990s, history came full circle (so to speak) as several major toilet paper manufacturers began offering their latest “innovation”—toilet paper treated with aloe. Progress rolls on. —Joe Kissell

I personally find this article very enlightening--Heres some other stuff I dug up on toilet paper:

"Before toilet paper came into widespread use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—yes, that recently!—personal hygiene was typically performed using materials that were a bit less soft and absorbent. Newspapers, catalogs, and similar reading materials were as likely as they are now to appear in bathrooms, but much less likely to leave the room (or outhouse, as the case may be) intact. Farther back in history (or when paper was otherwise unavailable), such items as rags, leaves, and even stones were used. The ancient Romans reportedly used sponges on sticks."