A Review of Dixon Ticonderogas Pencil Museum in Lake Mary, Florida

Used by permission of Keith Ray keithraypublic@gmail.com

In the past 30 years, the world has dramatically shifted from hand-writing to keyboarding. (What a clumsy word!) But for
many of us, one glimpse of the iconic Dixon Ticonderoga pencil --- bright yellow with emerald green lettering --- instantly
brings back memories of schoolwork.
Despite the rapid switch to digital communication methods, the Dixon Ticonderoga Company has managed to prosper,
selling almost a billion pencils every year. Fortunately, the company has used a portion of its profits to create an intimate
corporate history museum at its executive offices about five minutes from where we are living. In a surprisingly interesting
way, the museum also reflects the cultural history of the U.S.
The companys family tree spreads its branches wide. The earliest branch of the company built and owned the first
long-distance paved road in the US in the 1790s. The namesake founder, Joseph Dixon was an incessant inventor
who impacted several industries during the early years of Americas Industrial Revolution. H is ideas included putting
a mirror in a camera (forerunner of the view finder), a technique for printing currency in color to deter
counterfeiting, the double crank connecting the wheels of a locomotive, significantly levering the power of the
engine, and a heat-resistant graphite crucible for mixing iron and steel. Louis Prang, who founded a company later
acquired by Dixons company, printed some of the first Christmas cards in the U.S. and was instrumental in getting
art included in the curriculum of U.S. public schools.
Prior to the Civil War, the relatively-small number of pencils produced in the U.S. were manufactured by just a few
small firms, including those of Dixon and the father of the esteemed writer and environmentalist, Henry David
Thoreau. The Civil War, however, became the impetus for the switch from writing with feather quills and ink to the
use of pencils. Troops in the field needed easily portable writing instruments, and pencils were the solution. How
ironic that a product that replaced one popular writing instrument should today find itself facing another such switch.
And exactly how are pencils produced? Essentially, its a sandwich. Several round semi-circular grooves are carved into a
thin plank of cedar. Extruded cylinders of graphite are laid into the grooves, and another grooved plank of cedar is glued
to the top. The sandwich is then cut into individual pencils that are shaped to fit the hand, and an eraser is attached
using a metal band. Repeat one billion times a year!

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY KEITH RAY, 2016