Shredded Wheat History & Chronology

The product known today as Shredded Wheat was the invention of Henry Perky of Denver, Colorado. In 1892, he took his idea of a product made of boiled wheat to his friend, William H. Ford, in Watertown, NY - a machinist by trade. Here they developed the machine for making a “biscuit,” which they then baked - creating a palatable dry cereal which would keep. Perky’s original intention was to sell the machines, not the biscuits. He returned to Denver and began distributing the biscuits from a horse-drawn wagon in an attempt to popularize the idea. The company he formed was known at the time as The Cereal Machine Company.

The biscuits proved more popular than the machines, however, so Perky moved back East and opened his first bakery in Boston [The Boston Shredded Cereal Food Company] and then in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1895, retaining the name of The Cereal Machine Company, and adding the name of The Shredded Wheat Company.

By 1901, drawn by the idea of an inexpensive form of power for baking, and the natural draw of a popular tourist attraction, he moved his company to Niagara Falls, New York. There it was first known as The Natural Food Conservatory or Company. The factory itself was called "The Palace of Light," and was white-tiled, air-conditioned, well-lit, and equipped with showers, lunchrooms, and auditoriums for the employees. It preceded the Pure Food and Drug Act's requirements for a clean work environment for food production by 6 years.

In 1908, the company again took the name of The Shredded Wheat Company, and another factory was built in Niagara Falls, N.Y. A third plant was added in Niagara Falls, Ontario in 1904, known as The Canadian Shredded Wheat Company. By 1915 The Pacific Coast Shredded Wheat Company had been added in Oakland, California, and by 1925, a factory in England, outside London in Welwyn Garden City, had joined the family.

In December 1928, the company was sold to The National Biscuit Company. For a few years, the product seemed to carry only "The Home of Shredded Wheat" on its products, however, the National Biscuit Company name began to appear by about 1933, and it became known as National Biscuit Shredded Wheat. This changed to Nabisco Shredded Wheat around 1941. Production of Shredded Wheat was begun in Naperville, Illinois in 1970. All the other plants remained in operation, until 1954, when the original "Palace of Light" was shut down.

In 1993, Nabisco decided to sell the Shredded Wheat brand - attempting first a sale to General Mills, and when that was disallowed, selling it instead to Kraft-General Foods, retaining the Triscuit name and product and thus splitting for the first time the two products originally produced by Henry Perky. Shredded Wheat is now "brought to you by Post," a part of Kraft Foods, which in turn is part of a larger corporation Altria. Until as late as 2000, it still carried the Nabisco logo on the corner of the box. It now carries only the Post name, with marked changes in the box. With this sale in 1993, Kraft acquired the Naperville plant, where Shredded Wheat production continues, and the Canadian plant in Niagara Falls, Ontario, which still produces Shredded Wheat. A third plant in Jonesboro, Arkansas joins these two in the current production of Post Shredded Wheat.

The plant in Oakland, California closed in 1991, and the English plant was sold in 1989 to RHM [Rank Hovis Macdougal], and then to Nestlé in 1990, and is now owned by a General Mills-Nestlé consortium called Cereal Partners-UK, where it continues to make Shredded Wheat and Shreddies.

While it sold its dry cereal business in 1993, Nabisco retained the plant in Niagara Falls, N.Y. for Triscuit production. Until December of 1995, it also continued to make Shredded Wheat biscuits there for Post.  In 2000, Kraft Foods [owned by the parent company Altria], acquired all of Nabisco, thus recombining Shredded Wheat and Triscuit under the same parent company. The Niagara Falls, NY plant, however, was closed down on December 13, 2001.  Thus neither Shredded Wheat nor Triscuits are made any longer in Niagara Falls, NY, and the big silos stand empty.

But despite divestments and divisions, production of the original Shredded Wheat product continues in other plants, and for those collectors of memorabilia of it, hopefully will reach well into its second century.

A list of products of the various companies follows, with the National Biscuit Company & Nabisco, and Post limited to Shredded Wheat brand line:

The Cereal Machine Co, Worcester, Mass:

1895 - 1900

Shredded Whole Wheat Biscuit

Granulated Wheat-Shred

Wheat-Shred Drink

Shredded Cereal Coffee

Wheat-Shred Baby Food

Shredding Machines

The Shredded Wheat Co. Worcester, Mass.

1895 - 1900

Shredded Wheat Biscuit

The Natural Food Co, Niagara Falls, NY:

1901 - 1905

Shredded Whole Wheat Biscuit

Triscuit (1902)

The Canadian Shredded Wheat Co.

Niagara Falls, Ont.:

1911 -

Shredded Wheat

Shreddies

Spoon-size Shredded Wheat

Post/Kraft Canada Niagara Falls, Ont.

1993 -

Shredded Wheat

Spoonsize Shredded Wheat

Shreddies

Golden Honey Shreddies

The Shredded Wheat Co., NF, NY:

1908 - 1928

Shredded Whole Wheat Biscuit

Triscuit

Choconels

The National Biscuit Company, NY, NY

1928 - 1941

Shredded Wheat Triscuit

Cubs

Shreddies

Nabisco Shredded Wheat, Parsippany, NJ

1941 - 1993

Shredded Wheat Triscuit

Shredded Wheat `n Bran

Shredded Wheat Juniors

Shredded Wheat Spoon-size

Frosted Mini-Bites

Frosted Wheat Squares

Toasted Wheat and Raisins

Fruit Wheats

Post/Kraft-General Foods Northfield, Ill

1993 -

Shredded Wheat

Shredded Wheat Spoon-Size

Frosted Mini-Bites

Honey Nut Shredded Wheat

Shredded Wheat `n Bran

The Shredded Wheat Company. Welwyn Garden City, England

1921 -1988

Welgar Shredded Wheat

Shreddies

Cereal Partners U.K., Welwyn Garden City, Herts, England

1988 -

Nestlé Shredded Wheat

Nestlé Shreddies

Nestlé Honey Nut Shredded Wheat

Nestlé Bitesize Shredded Wheat

Coco Shreddies

Frosted Shreddies

Fruitful Shredded Wheat

Triple Berry Shredded Wheat

To contact me, send an e-mail to jwalton971@aol.com or call me at 908-832-9578. Questions, additions, & corrections always welcome.

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