The brand name ROSE-X encompassed several laundry products manufactured in Brooklyn, New York by the Roselux Chemical Company and later the Rose-X Chemical Company from the mid-1930’s up through the mid-1970’s. Over that time ROSE-X newspaper advertisements were almost exclusively limited to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, so it appears their product distribution was centered around the New York metropolitan area.
The brand’s initial manufacturer, the Roselux Chemical Company, was established in 1933 with the company’s incorporation notice appearing in the October 21, 1933 edition of the “Brooklyn Times Union.”
Over the next quarter century the company made their home in the East New York section of Brooklyn, listing addresses in the Brooklyn telephone books of 1100 Rockaway Avenue (1934 to 1939); 522 Dumont Avenue (1939 – 1941) and 301 Belmont Avenue (1942 – 1960).
According to the “U S Patent Office Gazette” the company officially trademarked the term ROSE-X on May 3, 1938 but had been using the name as early as December 1, 1935.
They were certainly using the name in 1936 when their ROSE-X Bleach began to appear in newspaper advertisements run by local grocery stores. One of the first was a November 19th ad found in the Yonkers, New York “Herald Statesman” where “ROSE-X Bleach Water” was named in a “Yonkers Food Center” ad as one of what they referred to as their “All-Star Eleven.”
By 1943, grocery store ads were also including ammonia under the ROSE-X name and by 1947 a third product, liquid starch, had been added to the ROSE-X menu as well. Appearing introductory in nature, this early ROSE-X Liquid Starch advertisement appeared in the July 24, 1947 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle.”
Its wonderful this new ROSE-X Liquid Starch.
Before the decade’s end, this September 16, 1949 advertisement found in New York’s “Daily News” introduced a fourth ROSE-X product, “Crisp Plastic Starch” as “its newest sensation.”
In the 1950’s the menu of ROSE-X products continued to expand with the addition of ROSE-X Fluffy Rinse in the mid-1950’s and ROSE-X All Purpose Cleaner later in the decade. Both are included along with their bleach and ammonia in this December 15, 1960 advertisement found in Long Island’s “Newsday.”
By this time it appears that corporate changes were in the works. The first indication comes in 1960 when the name of the company was changed to the Rose-X Chemical Company. The change had certainly occurred by the fall of 1960 when the new name was referenced in this coupon found in the September 8th edition of the Yonkers “Herald Statesman.”
The Brooklyn telephone books listed the Rose-X Chemical Company at the former Roselux Chemical Company address of 301 Belmont Avenue until circa 1963 at which time their listed address changed to 585 Berriman Street, also located in East New York. A coupon for their “ROSE-X Fluffy Rinse, found in the April 28, 1965 edition of New York’s “Daily News” specifically referenced that address.
By then, according to a story in the December 22, 1966 edition of Passaic New Jersey’s “Herald News,” the company was a wholly owned subsidiary of the J. L. Prescott Company.
The Prescott company operated three wholly owned subsidiaries, Arrow Container Co. of Lincoln Park, a manufacturer of blow molded plastic bottles; Rose-X Chemical Co. of Brooklyn, and Bonnie Home Products of Great Neck, L.I.
The “Herald News” story went on to describe the Prescott company as:
…one of the largest independently owned manufacturers of laundry and household cleaning products in the East.
I suspect the name change and subsequent move to Berriman Street were both related to the Prescott acquisition but haven’t been able to confirm it, so that remains conjecture on my part.
Over the next several years, products marketed under the ROSE-X brand continued to appear sporadically in local grocery store advertisements. The last mention I can find appeared in the “Staten Island Advance,” when on January 24, 1973 you could pick up a one gallon jug of ROSE-X Bleach for 39 cents.
This all suggests an end date for the ROSE-X brand sometime in the mid-1970’s.
The bottle I found is machine made; contained one quart, and has the “ROSE-X name embossed on the shoulder.
The following two advertisements that both appeared in 1956 newspaper advertisements indicate that exact style bottle was used for both their bleach and liquid starch so it could have contained either.
When exactly the Roselux Chemical Company began using this style bottle is not clear. That being said, they had certainly adopted that style by 1948 as evidenced by its appearance in this September 16th advertisement found in New Rochelle, New York’s “Standard Star.”
Recognizing that by 1960, Rose-X Chemical’s parent company, the J. L. Prescott Company, also owned the Arrow Container Company, a manufacturer of plastic bottles, suggests that Rose-X likely converted to plastic around that time. This dates the subject bottle between 1948 (and possibly earlier) and 1960.
On a Final Note: The building that housed the business at 585 Berriman Street apparently remains to this day. According to street easy.com it’s a one-story commercial building built in 1960. That would make the ROSE-X Chemical Company one of its earliest, if not its first, occupant. Today the building is occupied by a company called “Universal Beverages.”
As far as I can tell, the buildings utilized by the business prior to 585 Berriman Street are all long gone.