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The first office of the California Perfume Company was a meager space, "scarcely larger than an ordinary kitchen pantry," about 20 x 25 feet in size. In a short autobiography and historical account entitled, The Story Of A Man Who Worked With His Heart As Well As With His Hands, McConnell chronicles the early years of his company, starting out in a single room within the building at 126 Chambers Street and the company's almost explosive expansion that required the construction of a large laboratory, built in Suffern, New York in 1895. In his autobiography, McConnell wrote,
"I started the perfume business in a space scarcely larger than an ordinary kitchen pantry. At first I manufactured but five odors: Violet, White Rose, Heliotrope, Lily-of-the-Valley, and Hyacinth. I did much experimental work in making these odors, and the selling price to the first batch of perfumes I made did not cover one-half the actual cost of the goods, but experience is a great teacher, and I applied myself to the task of making perfumes with the same vim and energy that I had in selling books and after a short time, I fancied that I could produce as fine an odor as some of the old and tried perfumes; at least my perfumes pleased my customers; they were the natural perfumes of the flower, made in the most natural way and by the process employed by the large French perfumers."
An interesting point to consider is that 126 Chambers Street was the location of the Union Publishing House, New York--the business that McConnell purchased from his former boss. According to the Tribeca South Historic District Extension Designation Report authored by Donald G. Presa and published 19 November 2002, the following occupants were located at 126 Chambers Street, New York with the associated dates: 1890-1895 Union Publishing House and 1890-1905 David H. McConnell - publishing. Also, an article in the New York Times published on 29 March 1895 recounts one Josephine Sawyer saving the life of her employer--Mr. David H. McConnell, President of the Union Publishing House--when he accidentally caught fire while pouring alcohol from one bottle to another over a flaring gas jet. The only reason a book publisher would working with bottles of alcohol over a gas jet would be the manufacture of alcohol-based products: perfumes. The dates for the full conversion from the book publishing business to full-up perfume and toiletries manufacturer has thus far been lost to antiquity, but one thing is for sure--David H. McConnell was a phenomenal entrepreneur that definitely made the right decision!
