The story of Davis Paint, founded in 1921 by Berry Davis, is unique because he was highly innovative in the way he launched the company and nursed it through its early years. Mr. Davis began his company at his home in Kansas City with a sales plan, $150.00 in postage stamps, a mailing list and some printed material.

What resulted was the building up of an "agency paint business", somewhat like the Fuller Brush Company's system of operation. When orders came in, he would supply the paint. Mr. Davis believed most of his business would come from the sale of kits to the agents, not from the sale of paint. Mr. Davis found almost immediately he was wrong; a surprisingly large number of orders for paint came in. This method of operation came to a climax in the late Twenties and early Thirties when the mailing amounted to an estimated three to five million letters annually.

Physically, the company grew rapidly. Before 1925, Davis Paint had purchased all its paint from a Kansas City producer. In that year, it also began buying from a Cleveland firm. In 1926, the owners of the Cleveland operation sold the equipment and the business to Davis Paint. In 1927 Davis began manufacturing a private label paint line for Sutherland Lumber. In 1928 Davis began manufacturing at its current location in North Kansas City. Over the years the company has expanded into the Industrial Channel while keeping its architectural roots and also produces toll and private label coatings for a variety of industries.

Davis Paint continues to operate under the guidance of its founder, Berry Davis who penned the company motto “Quality goes into the paint before the paint goes into the can”.