This Month in History: Founder's Daybook Provides Insights
Company founder Warren S. Johnson’s entry for January 1, 1905 includes a poem written by Henry W. Longfellow 32 years earlier.
January 1, 1905: Journal shows variety of interests
On January 1, 1905, company founder Warren S. Johnson made the first of 365 entries in a daybook that he would keep throughout that year. In it, he records quotations from some of his favorite authors (including Dickens, Longfellow, Tennyson, and Robert Louis Stevenson), as well as illustrations from magazines that complement the written text. For example, a picture of Shakespeare and his home are pasted into the entry for April 23, opposite a quote from Much Ado About Nothing. Warren’s thoughts about work, relationships, education, religion, and automobiles are described – through the words of others – in the pages of this unique volume.
Related Items
This Month in History: December 1894
On December 24, 1894, the Johnson Electric Service Co. (Johnson Controls' former name) registered a contract for installation of temperature controls at the New Hampshire State Library in Concord.
This Month in History: November 1977
Fred Brengel, the former CEO of Johnson Controls, was quoted in a Milwaukee Journal article from November 23, 1977 that Johnson Controls was not "looking for a partner," discounting the suggestion that surfaced in a Forbes magazine article that the Company might be receptive to a merger.
This Month in History: October 1989
An article in the October 11, 1989 edition of the Milwaukee Sentinel reported on the formation of a new joint venture by Johnson Controls and the Japanese firm, Yokogawa Electric Corporation.
History
In 1885, long before anyone talked about carbon footprints or climate change, Warren Johnson launched a company to explore new ways to harness and conserve precious energy resources.