History of the US Playing Card Co.

At the close of the American Civil War Colonel Robert J. Morgan captured the industrialism of a rebuilding nation and founded what would one day become the United States Playing Card Company. After partnering with Samuel Murray, a talented New York inventor, the two created Russell, Morgan & Co. — revolutionizing the printing industry with their chromatic machines and a dual enameling processes. Their first deck, Congress, would be the first of many — culminating in the classic Rider Back.

Although founded in 1867, their success in playing cards would only begin to flourish in 1881 — eventually dividing into it’s own separate company, the USPCC, by 1894. That same year the USPCC would begin to approach and acquire smaller industries including Standard Playing Card Company and New York Consolidated Playing Card Company. Over the course of the next century the USPCC’s reach would stretch to such familiar printing businesses as Arrco, Hoyle, Fournier, and Doughtery.

By the turn of the century, what began as a business of twenty in a four-story building became a company of thousands in a 30-acre factory. Their success and drive to become the best in the industry was, and still is, a microcosm of the American Dream. Today they produce hundreds of different decks, including those created by Art of Play; still, every deck is held to the highest standard in printing, just as in 1881.