When was shredded wheat created

Henry Perky invented shredded wheat cereal in Denver, Colorado, in Inspired by his observation of a dyspeptic diner blending wheat with cream, he developed a method of processing wheat into strips that were formed into pillow-like biscuits.

It is then tempered, allowing moisture to diffuse evenly into the grain. The grain then passes through a set of rollers with grooves in one side, yielding a web of shredded wheat strands. Many webs are stacked together, and this moist stack of strands is crimped at regular intervals to produce individual pieces of cereal with the strands attached at each end. Perky first sold his shredded wheat cereal to vegetarian restaurants in , distributing it from a factory in Niagara Falls, New York.

A health-oriented publication, The Chicago Vegetarian, recommended the use of shredded wheat biscuits as soup croutons.

At the same time, Perky leased cereal-manufacturing machines to bakers in Denver and Colorado Springs through his Cereal Machine Company and sold wheat processors. One of his wheat-processor buyers, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, admired Perky's manufacturing process for his shredded wheat cereal.

Kellogg declined to purchase Perky's patent on it, however, considering it too weak in taste, "like eating a whisk broom. It became the Shredded Wheat Company in United States production of Shredded Wheat moved to Naperville, Illinois in , where it is still made. One will no doubt be located at Chicago and the other either in Omaha or Denver. Perky was formerly a resident of Nebraska.

He studied law in in General [John C. The first issue of The Independent , of which he was publisher and proprietor, appeared there on September 16, Because of declining health, Perky left Nebraska for Colorado about Perky's grand plans for the manufacture of steel railway cars were never realized. A fire in had destroyed the St. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. More plants were opened in the U. In , the Rainbow Boulevard site began production of shredded wheat as Nabisco offered the old factory and administration building for sale.

In , the administration building closed and was leased to Union Carbide as a research facility. By , when NCCC moved to its permanent campus in Sanborn, the old administration building was in danger of being demolished, possibly for a hotel. Local preservation-minded citizens succeeded in having it added to the National Register of Historic Places the next year.

It was demolished in ; the site remains vacant in In , production of shredded wheat in Niagara Falls U. The next year, Kraft-General Foods bought all shredded wheat production, leaving Nabisco with Triscuits. And then in , Kraft purchased all of Nabisco and shut down the Rainbow Boulevard factory on December 13, , one hundred years and seven months almost to the day from the beginning of the Natural Food Company in Niagara Falls.

Two hundred workers lost their jobs. Many remembered the scent of hay in the factory and how cool and clean the working environment was. Special thanks to Cecilia Driscoll, local history librarian at the Niagara Falls Library, for her extra efforts to locate the company seal designed by Raphael Beck. She discovered it on a piece of company stationery in the library archives. View from the roof garden atop the Natural Food Company building, showing the residential neighborhood in which it was built.

Image source:private collection. Slideshow of the process of making shredded wheat products at the Niagara Falls factory. The captions are orginal. Use the controls beneath each image to move back and forward. Back Next. Advertisement from magazine. Company seal, designed by Raphael Beck, Company promotional card linking Niagara Falls with shredded wheat. Lobby of the Administration Building. Lunchroom for female employees. Library reading room for employees.