American cereal company - History
Seven oatmeal millers, all located east of the Rocky
Mountains, merged together in 1891 to form the American Cereal
Company:
The first Board of Directors of the company consisted of:
- Ferdinand Schumacher
- Henry P. Crowell
- Robert Stuart
- M. Otis Hower
- Charles L. Newell
- Hugo Schumacher
- Walter A. Douglas
- George W. Crouse
- Alfred M. Barber
- F. A. Schumacher
- Edward R. Crowell
- Frank C. King
- Solomon Coldren
The company headquarters were located in Chicago,
Illinois. The offices were located at the Imperial Mill
of Douglas and Stuart from 1891 to 1894, at the Monadnock
Bldg. from 1894 until 1904, and then in the Railway Exchange
Building. In 1930, the Quaker Oats Company opened its
offices in the Board of Trade Building.
The Ohio operations were consolidated into one central
location at the site of the Schumacher Milling Company in
Akron. The mills in Ravenna, Cleveland and the other
Akron mill (Hower & Co.) were closed in 1892.
In the fall of 1891, fire destroyed the equipment of the
Rockford Oatmeal Co. and it was not rebuilt. The Oatmeal
Co. of Iowa City, because of its proximity to the operations
of Douglas and Stuart in Cedar Rapids, was closed in
1893.
In 1901 the Quaker Oats Company was founded as a holding
company and had acquired the majority of the American Cereal
Company stock. In 1906 Quaker Oats took over all assets
of the American Cereal Company and became an operating
corporation.
american cereal company Products
Click here to see a list of the brands and products offered
by the American Cereal Company in 1899:
AMERICAN CEREAL COMPANY ADVERTISING
Unlike many of his contemporaries of the time, Henry
Crowell believed that advertising was the key to national
marketing success. Although some of the millers sold
their oatmeal under a brand name, the names were not
well-known outside of the local area.
The millers also began to make the transition from selling
the product in bulk barrels to offering smaller, individual
packages to the consumers marked with the brand names.
They began to sell their oatmeal and other grain products in
2-lb boxes.
Advertising COOKBOOKS AND RECIPE BOOKLETS
- Cereal Foods and How to Cook Them (1893, World's
Fair Coupon inside), 68 pp
- Cereal Foods and How to Cook Them (1899, 5th
edition, revised), 68 pp
Magazine advertisements
   
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Image
American Cereal Company magazine advertisements promoting
the Quaker Oats brand can be found in
vintage issues of the following periodicals: Harper's,
Scribner's Atlantic Monthly, Century Magazine, Ladies Home
Journal, Delineator, and Designer. Look for
the issues published during 1890's decade.
COLLECTINg
Collectors can find a variety of items related to the
American Cereal Company if they know what to look for.
 Besides
the recipe booklets and magazine advertisements, trade cards were another popular form of advertising
during the time period of the company's existence.
An example of a trade card for Schumacher's Rolled Avena
and Parched Farinose is shown at the left.
 The
American Cereal Company was an exhibitor at the World's
Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. Souvenirs
and advertising ephemera from the World's Fair are another
source of items.
The trade card shown to the right is one from a set of
twelve that were sold at the fair for 25 cents each at the
Quaker Oats booth.
The American Cereal Company also had a Quaker Oats exhibit
at the Pan American Exposition held in Buffalo, New York in
1901.
Other paper collectibles and ephemera to look for include
calendars, billheads, stationary, envelopes, receipts, product
packaging and postcards.
An example of an American Cereal Company postcard with the
caption "Harvesting on the Prairie" is shown below:
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