Area Kroger stores are celebrating the 85th birthday of the retail food company which began with one tiny grocery on Cincinnati's river front in 1883 and grew to 1,486 supermarkets in 24 states.

T. E. Dewey, vice president of the company's Chicago Division, claims that "the food business has changed fantastically since that time and all for the better."

The romantic concept of a 19th Century grocery store unfortunately did not include the immaculate cleanliness and careful quality control procedures followed by modern supermarkets and food processors.

According to Dewey, "few foods were packaged." Butter, lard, flour, sugar, macaroni and dried fruits sat out in the open, unrefrigerated and unprotected. They were scooped or cut to order from large tubs or bins, weighed and wrapped.

Barrels of molasses, kerosene and pickles, as well as the traditional cracker barrel, also had to be ladled or weighed out as they were ordered.

When B. H. Kroger, who founded the Kroger Co. with a total investment of $722 (a modest sum even in 1883), began inspecting and tasting and testing the foods he bought, other grocers thought he was crazy.

"Such a practice in 1968 seems obvious, but consider its setting in 1883," Dewey commented.

"This was a world without central heating, electricity, kitchen appliance or any other conveniences taken for granted today.

"The first adding machines and cash registers were just reaching the market. And there were few telephones. In Washington, D.C., for example, the state department listed only two telephones," he added.

Manufactured ice didn't appear until the 1890's, which meant that most families lived on salted and pickled meats in the summer, except for an occasional chicken. At harvest time a whole lamb might be killed to provide a hearty dinner for the hardworking threshers.


Kroger exterior circa 1917	Kroger interior circa 1934

Some of the meat shops did their own butchering and hung the huge sides of beef right of in front, next to the sales counter.

Hot dogs were invented that year by a St. Louis peddler named Feuchtwanger. Hotel menus might include such entrees as black bear ham, buffalo tongue, saddle of antelope or stuffed coon.

And wage earners of 1883 reported that, with prices rising, they were finding it difficult to make ends meet. "Some things never change," Dewey commented.

Sanitation was, on the whole, ignored. Public drinking cups attached to the wall with a chain were accepted by all but the most fastidious. "Stretching" of food products with cheaper ingredients was common. Coffee, for example, might contain breadcrumbs, burnt sugar, ground peas, bean or corn.

Stores of 1883 carried only a few hundred items, compared to more than 7,000 today. Quality of even the best food products was inferior to today's foods, scientifically planned for generations to produce the best values, both in flavor and size.

One of the most vivid results of this scientific breeding can be seen in poultry. Turkeys were scrawny, and tough and rarely were eaten except at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Chickens, now considered a staple, low cost dish, prized by busy cooks because of their ease of preparation, were only served on Sunday or special occasions.

Great great grandmother had to catch the flapping, squawking bird, chop its head off, pluck the feathers and eviscerate it before it was even ready to cut into frying pan pieces.

"Despite all the improvements in foods, today's shopper buys food for her family with a smaller percentage of income than any country in the world, or at any time in history," Dewey said. "The figure was less than 18 percent in 1967."

Vintage Kroger brand spices in tin containers.

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Don't Lament the Good Old Days

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