The earliest known use of paint dates back some 30,000 years to the days of early humans drawing murals on cave walls, and what followed was millennia of artistic styles involving paint. Despite this long history of painting, it was not until 1700 that the first paint mill was established to mass produce this medium of decorating. By the end of the 19^th century, paint factories were thriving all over the world, but the big game change came in the 1950s when middle class Americans started to paint their houses and did not like the messy oil based paints that predominated the market so they clamored for a relatively new invention: latex paint. (more…)