German Mills American Oatmeal Company

In 1850, Ferdinand Schumacher, a German settler, opened a grocery store in Akron, Ohio. His major customers were German and Irish immigrants, and they bought a lot of oats.

He started the cereals turnaround in 1854 with a hand grains grinder in the back area of his not so large store, which produced 20 180-Ib barrels of oatmeal daily with a water-powered stone mill. His plan was to introduce steel-cut oats to the American diet at a time when oats were considered inappropriate for anything but horses.

His German Mills American Oatmeal Company was the nation’s foremost profit-oriented gruel producer. Sales were brisk, particularly to cities with large immigrant populations so Schumacher opened additional mills to meet the increasing demand in 1883.

In 1877, Schumacher embraced the Quaker sign the foremost recorded brand for a morning meal breakfast food.

In 1878 Schumacher imported porcelain rollers from England to manufacture rolled oats.

In the early of 1860s, during the Civil War, the government found oats to be relatively inexpensive, accessible and nourishing and ordered hundreds of barrels from him to fortify the Union troops.

When the war ceased in 1865, oats were becoming an increasingly familiar commodity on American breakfast tables. German Mills American Oatmeal Company would later merge several times with other companies, with the result being the Quaker Oats Company.
German Mills American Oatmeal Company

History of Quaker Oats Company

History of Quaker Oats Company
The Quaker Oats Company has been around for over 120 years producing many different products and cereals. It all started with The Quaker Mills Company in Ravenna, Ohio when Henry D. Seymour and William Heston registered the Quaker trademark in 1877. Later Henry Crowell purchased the company and quickly gained acceptance from the public in part because of his method of packaging the oats in a two pound paper package with cooking directions. This is understandable as the method of packaging by his rivals were in the not-so-handy 180 lb barrels. He was called a cereal tycoon at that time.

It is unclear exactly how many different companies were involved in the late 1880s, but others involved in the formation of Quaker Oats, include Ferdinand Schumacher known as “The Oatmeal King” (American Oatmeal Company), John Stuart, his son Robert and George from cereal mills of Cedar Rapids.

Another on was Rob Lewis & Co. American Oats and Barley Oatmeal Corporation.

Over the years many different premiums were given out to promote the Quaker man, starting with trade cards and puzzles in 1900 era, to cookie jars in 1997. The most popular premium in the 1950's was Sgt Preston of the Yukon Promotion with free deeds for one square inch of land in the Yukon Territory.

The symbol of a man in Quaker dress was registered as a trademark in 1877 by forerunner of the Quaker Oats Company. This symbol was chosen because it was considered that Quakers represented an image of purity and honesty. This move was seminal, because Quaker Oats was the first cereal to be marketed as a brand rather than a commodity.

Further more, in 1886 Quaker oats pioneered the retail sale of cereals in packages. These developments helped to establish oatmeal as the most popular breakfast item in the United States and as a significant ingredient in many ready to eat cereals and other food products.

In August 2001, after one hundred years a publicly traded company, Quaker Oats Company merged with PepsiCo, Inc.
History of Quaker Oats Company