165 South Broadway

165 S. Broadway ---Kellogg Vinegar Co.

In 1894, John Kellogg established an apple drying plant known as the Kellogg Apple Drier. His first cider mill went into operation in 1900 in the old barn and farm buildings. Soon there was also a cider and jelly mill in connection. The business was located south of the Fallas Canning factory on South Broadway
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In 1904, a fire resulted in the partial loss of Kellogg’s buildings. He rebuilt larger and better. The statistics for 1906 showed that The Kellogg Evaporator, Jelly and Cider Works used 50,000 to 60,000 bushels of apples. Of these about 20,000 were used for evaporated fruit and the rest for cider vinegar and jelly.

In 1911, a new cement building was built for the Vinegar Plant which was then doing business as Kellogg and VanDyke. The cement blocks were cast in the basement of the Masonic building at 315-317 East Main. Its footprint was 70 x40 feet with two stories and a basement. It used 24 generators.

In 1914, the partnership was discontinued and the business was once again conducted by John Kellogg. He retired ten years later in 1924. His son, Paul Kellogg, took over and the name became the Paul Kellogg Vinegar Co.

In 1938, the Paul Kellogg Vinegar Co. added two large, modern cider presses which could crush 300 bushels of apples an hour compared to 100 bushels an hour. A total of 250 barrels or 12,000 gallons of cider could be put out each day and placed in storage tanks to ripen into vinegar. Six new storage tanks were also added with a capacity of 25,000 gallons each.

They owned 5 large trucks in 1949 and shipped 90% of their product by truck in barrels, jugs and bottles to various points in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The annual capacity for making vinegar was 1,000,000 gallons. Apples were brought here by truckloads from a radius of 100 miles from Lowell. From 75 to 100 carloads of glass containers were shipped in every year to be used to market the vinegar which was shipped to grocers.

In 1954, an incorporated company was formed known as Paul Kellogg Vinegar Corporation. The stockholders and officers were: Paul Kellogg, Edward Kiel and Bertha Jessup. A new generator unit was imported from Germany to speed up the process of making vinegar. It rigidly controlled the temperature and air so the fermentation process was strictly controlled and was increased 10 times.

In 1965, the Paul Kellogg Vinegar Corporation, then owned by Edward Kiel and Gerald Kellogg (son of Paul) bought the L. W. Rutherford Mincemeat property next door and the recipe and rights to manufacture the famous Dining Car Mince Meat. The Kellogg company moved their bottling and processing operations to the Rutherford plant. A pipeline was installed to take the vinegar and apple juice from the Kellogg Plant to the new facilities.

In 1979, the old Kellogg Vinegar Plant was razed by Michigan Wire Processing Co. which next operated on the site. They kept the Mincemeat building and connected it to the old Runciman Hallmark Bean building on the east which they also owned.

Images:

Kellogg’s Cider Mill and Vinegar Plant began in the old farm barn on S. Broadway in 1900.

Workers at Kellogg’s Evaporator in 1909 were Mrs. Chas. Kraft, Mrs. Peckham, Fred Arthur, Sara Fenning, Will Prentice, John Kellogg, Mrs. Ingersol, Will Peckham, Beca Hatch, Ruby Cane, and Paul Kellogg.

Kellogg Vinegar vats, 1940s. The vinegar fermented in the vats.

Label used on Kellogg’s Apple Cider Vinegar gallon bottles.

Kellogg Vinegar Ad

Mincemeat was canned by Kellogg’s (1965-1970s) after Rutherford’s closed and the recipe was purchased from them.

In 1965, Kellogg’s bought the L. W. Rutherford property to the north.

Notice the vats behind the men. They were used to make vinegar.
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1910- Kellogg’s Lowell Evaporator and Cider Mill is at the bottom of the map while the Edwin Fallas Canning Co. is above or north of it.