Sheet Kodachrome predated 35mm color film by a few years.
Kodak got color "right" (the result matched Kodak's expectation) during the Depression, and learned the product was superior to what the cameras of that time could put on the film. Even Kodak's 35mm cameras made in the State Street Camera Works were found lacking and in need of development.
Kodak also quickly learned the price meant their main customer would be the US Government, and probably 75% of Kodak color film was shot by various Federal agencies. Most of those pictures are now available on line from Smithsonian and Library of Congress.
Truck loads of Kodak film left Kodak Park in Rochester under refrigeration (ice) headed for the films destination. Much of it was shot with Graflex cameras, also made in Rochester.
Today, little remains of Kodak Park, and there is question of what will be done with George Eastman's ashes currently in the monument at the Park Entrance. One of the first things to go was Building 65 where Kodak film was processed for years and slides or prints mailed back to the customer.
The unique thing abut the pictures on that site is that they are 4 x 5 transparencies. Just shooting one of those other than outside in daylight was a major chore requiring a photographer and helper for lighting. Processing the film was simple enough, but converting that image to a transparency was done at Kodak Park by a team of processors who were possibly the fussiest people in town.
Today, Kodak Park is hundreds of acres of concrete slabs, most of the buildings have been demolished to minimize taxes, and 70,000 people no longer bring a check home from Kodak.
It's a sad place to see today with the single chrome plated wheel monument to the building where film was once made by liquified cow hides coating a dozen of those wheels running 365 days a year.
