General Pencil Company
Artist pencils made in Jersey City, New Jersey since 1889
✅ Made in USA
Our assessment
Company details
Where General Pencil Company products are made
Jersey City, New Jersey
General Pencil Company continues to manufacture pencils at its Jersey City factory. Oscar A. Weissenborn began making pencils in a room of the family home in Jersey City and moved into a dedicated factory in the same city in 1914.
Artist-grade graphite and charcoal
The company’s line is aimed at artists rather than office supply shelves — graphite, charcoal, carbon and pastel pencils where the consistency of the core is the whole product.
A single family since 1889
Five generations of Weissenborns have run the company. That continuity is why the manufacturing never got sold off or offshored during the decades when nearly every American pencil maker disappeared.
General Pencil Company states that it continues to manufacture pencils in Jersey City, New Jersey, and it has been owned and operated by the Weissenborn family there since 1889. The company also runs a West Coast operation, and its Jersey City site serves as the factory and East Coast warehouse; the factory is not open for tours. Wood, graphite and clay are commodity inputs sourced from suppliers, so the domestic claim here is about where the pencils are made. Check the individual listing if origin matters to you on a specific item.
The story
The story starts before the company. Edward Weissenborn, a mechanical engineer who assisted in the design and construction of the Civil War battleship USS Monitor, set up one of the first pencil factories in America in Jersey City Heights, New Jersey.
In 1889 his son, Oscar A. Weissenborn, began what is now General Pencil Company, making pencils in a large room of the family home in Jersey City. In 1914 he moved into his own factory in the same city.
The First World War turned out to be the company’s opening. The British blockade cut American pencil manufacturers off from German lead, leaving the industry unable to get its cores out of Germany — and creating an urgent domestic market for a maker who could produce them here.
General Pencil Company has stayed in the family and in Jersey City ever since, celebrating 135 years of continuous operation in 2024 while nearly every other American pencil manufacturer either closed or moved production overseas.
Why they matter
Pencil making is a genuinely hard thing to keep onshore. It is a low-margin, high-volume commodity category, which is precisely why almost all of it left the United States decades ago. A company still pressing cores and turning wood in Jersey City is an anomaly worth noticing.
General Pencil Company also occupies a specific niche: artist materials, where the buyer actually cares whether a 6B lays down the same way every time. That quality sensitivity is what makes domestic manufacturing defensible in a category otherwise won on price.
And there is the simple continuity of it. The same family, the same city, since 1889 — through two world wars, the collapse of American light manufacturing, and the rise of the global supply chain. That is not nostalgia, it is a business that kept choosing to stay.
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Frequently asked questions
Where are General Pencil Company pencils made?
At the company’s factory in Jersey City, New Jersey, which also serves as its East Coast warehouse. The factory is not available for tours.
How old is General Pencil Company?
It was founded in 1889 and celebrated 135 years of operation in 2024, making it one of the oldest continuously family-run manufacturers in the United States.
Who owns General Pencil Company?
The Weissenborn family, who have owned and operated it since 1889 across five generations.
What does General Pencil Company make?
Artist-grade pencils and drawing materials — graphite, charcoal, carbon and pastel — aimed at artists rather than general office use.