Horse-drawn carriages clattered along streets paved with oyster shells in 1833 when Jeremy L. Cross, a "paper commission merchant" founded what was to become the Bulkley Dunton Company on East River waterfront in Lower Manhattan. This was a neighborhood of paper merchants, job printers, book binders, envelope manufacturers and other purveyors of the burgeoning paper trade. A few blocks to the west was Printing House Square, destined to become the newspaper capital of the country.

A few years later, 18-year-old Edwin Bulkley went to work for the company. The two men conducted their business either in their modest upstairs office or on the district's busy streets against a backdrop of masts, spars and sails. They managed to survive the Panic of 1837, and a succession of office moves and partnerships followed. By the end of the decade, the firm became Bulkley Dunton & Co., with Edwin Bulkley, Lewis Bulkley and William Dunton as partners.

At the end of the century, a chronicler of business affairs summarized Bulkley Dunton's standing in this way: "This house from the beginning has held an influential position in the paper trade, and today maintains its unbroken record for enterprising, reliability and fair-dealing."

Direct the mouse left and right to view all the dates. Select the date to view the details below.