The Quaker Oats Company

AKRON & SUMMIT COUNTY

Karl H. Grismer,

Summit County Historical Society,

Akron, Ohio c. 1950 p 640

The Quaker Oats Company

     The Quaker Oats Company has been growing with Akron since the days of Ferdinand Schu­macher's mills of the middle and late 1880's. A stone flour mill which became part of the company dates back to 1832.

     Here are some interesting and important mile­stones in the Quaker history: 1832 - Stone Mill in Akron began milling flour; 1856 - Schumacher started German Mills American Oatmeal Com­pany; 1884 - Original cereal mill building still in use was constructed by Akron Milling Com­pany; 1886 - Fire destroyed Schumacher Mills; Schumacher consolidated remaining interests with Akron Milling Co; 1886 - F. Schumacher Milling Company joined the American Cereal Co.; 1901 - American Cereal Company became the Quaker Oats Company; 1909 - Stone Mill was torn down to make room for new flour opera­tions; 1913 - Main Package building was started; 1939 - Elevator C buildings completed, and George C. Fretz became manager of the Akron plant.

     The Quaker name and trademark date back to the incorporation of the Quaker Mill Company, of Ravenna, Ohio, in 1877. The partners in the venture, impressed with the strength and char­acter of the Quakers, chose "the figure of the man in Quaker garb" as their trade-mark.

     Major products of the Akron plant are: Qua­ker Oats, Puffed Wheat, Puffed Rice, Aunt jemima Pancake Flour and Ready-Mixes, Ful-0-Pep Feeds, Mother's Oats, Schumacher Feeds, corn meals, grits, barley and corn oil. It would require a train more than 70 miles long to carry the products shipped out of the plant each year.

     Quaker employs nearly 1,000 people in the mill, office and sales departments. One out of ten employees has a 25-year service record or better. The annual payroll is about $3,000,000 and employees receive some $150,000 extra, un­der the company's profit sharing plan.

     First-line management of the Akron Quaker plant includes: George C. Fretz, manager; Angus MacDonald, assistant manager; Harold M. Wies, superintendent, and Edward D. Andrews, mech­anical research.