Why was the Crayola crayon invented?

Crayola Crayons were first introduced in 1903. They were invented because the Binney's (of Binney & Smith, the company that created them) thought that there wasn't a quality crayon in the market at a reasonable price point. In the beginning, Crayola crayons were neither the first crayons out there nor were they even the best crayons out there. But, they key was that they were a very high quality crayon for an inexpensive cost. That formula and the branding they would later adopt helped propel the Crayola name to one of the most dominant product recognition percentages of any product ever.

There were many reasons crayons were used back then. The most common were their use in schools. Water colors were messy and chalk dust was a problem from blackboards at the time. They were also made safe from consumption; a big concern as earlier products were toxic and not considered usable in a school setting with young children. There were also industry needs. Pictures used crayons to colorize them and even before cameras the crayon was considered a good medium for drawings when you were out in the field and couldn't lug around a full artist kit of paints, etc.