Founding 1910s	Early Innovation 1910s - 30s	Building a Brand 1930s - 50s	Growing and Expanding 1960s - 80s	Building for the Future 1980s - 90s	Innovation in the 21st Century & Beyond

Founding 1910s

Eighteen-year-old J.C. Hall arrived in Kansas City in 1910 to begin the business that would become Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Our story begins in 1910, when 18-year-old Joyce Clyde Hall stepped off a train in Kansas City, Mo., with nothing but two shoeboxes of postcards under his arm. He had little money – not even enough to take a horse-drawn cab to his lodgings at the YMCA – but he had an entrepreneurial spirit and the determination of a pioneer. Hall quickly made a name for himself with the picture postcards he sold.

Rollie Hall joined his brother in business and the company was named Hall Brothers. On Jan. 11, 1915, a fire destroyed their office and inventory. They took the only salvageable item – their safe – and set up shop again. With $17,000 in debt, they decided to press onward. As postcard sales declined, they recognized the public's desire for more privacy, so they started offering high-quality valentines and Christmas cards mailed in envelopes. The fateful fire resulted in the decision to buy printing presses and begin producing their own greeting cards in 1915.

Recognizing changing times, the Hall brothers moved from postcards to greeeting cards as consumers sought more privacy in their communications.