The history of toothpaste dates back to the late 1800’s. The first tube of toothpaste was invented by Dr. Lucius Sheffield. He introduced his Crème Dentifrice toothpaste in a tube back in 1886. Dr. Sheffield sold his toothpaste for just 25¢ a tube. You could purchase a trial size tube for just 4¢ for travel use. Check out that key on the bottom of the tube! They started squeezing every bit of precious toothpaste out efficiently back then too.
Prior to 1886, toothpaste was distributed in jars, according to Colgate. Colgate started mass producing their toothpaste in jars in 1873.