Pictured above are sales representatives of the
Kroma Color Company, along with officials from its parent company, the American
Crayon Company in about 1941. Carey W. Hord, who had been associated with both
companies throughout his long career, is the first man on the left in the front
row. The Kroma Color Company had been organized as an independent watercolor
company in 1912, and Mr. Hord was appointed its first president. In 1941, the Kroma Color Company became a subsidiary of
the American Crayon Company.
The first Kroma Color plant was on East
Market Street. By 1921 the company had outgrown this building and moved to the six-story building (later known as the Keller Building) at the northeast corner of West
Water and Decatur Streets, which had formerly been occupied by Hinde and Dauch Company.
Here is how a portion of the building looked, with several Hinde and Dauch employees, when that company was still on West Water Street.
