The following historical information is extracted from the history area on the Colgate web site. English immigrant William Colgate founded this company in New York in 1806 as a starch, soap, and candle company. It was run by himself and various partners until 1857, when he died. After that the company was called Colgate & Co. In 1866 the company introduced perfumed soap and started selling perfumes and essences. In 1873, they sold their first toothpaste.
Another soap company, the B.J. Johnson Soap Co. was extremely successful with their soap called Palmolive. They had started selling it in 1898. It was so successful that the company name was changed to Palmolive in 1916. In 1926 this company merged with Peet Brothers Soaps and became Palmolive-Peet Co. Two years later they merge with Colgate & Co. and became the Colgate Palmolive-Peet Co. During all this period of merging the company was also growing tremendously. By 1939 their sales were over $100 million. In 1953, the company name again changed to the simpler Colgate Palmolive Co. we know today.