Before paper towels, there were cleaning rags. A little history on how paper towels originated - paper towels were created by the Scott Paper Company which manufactured toilet tissues back in the 1930's. I won't go into the lengthy background details, but paper towels came about from an entire railroad car full of toilet tissues rolled too thick for toilet use. After some thought and research, Scott ordered the thick paper perforated into small towel-size sheets and sold them as disposable paper towels.
From that incident, it would take many years before paper towels replaced cloth towels for kitchen use, but they resulted in the creation of a large new grocery category. Given the convenience they brought to the average household, paper towels gained acceptance before replacing cloth towels." Today, it's hard to think of life without paper towels.
