Fascinating
facts about Will Keith Kellogg inventor of Kellogg's Corn Flakes® in 1894. |
Will
Keith Kellogg |
AT A GLANCE:
Will Keith Kellogg along with his brother John Harvey Kellogg, developed
and promoted eating cereal as healthy breakfast food, especially corn
flakes. In 1906 he founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company
which later became the Kellogg Company. In 1930 Kellogg established the
W. K. Kellogg Foundation. |
THE
STORY
RELATED INFO
BOOKS
VIDEOS
WEB SITES
DID YOU KNOW? |
| Inventor: |
Will Keith Kellogg |
|
|
Criteria; |
First to invent. First practical. Entrepreneur. |
| Birth: |
April 7, 1860 in Battle
Creek, Michigan |
| Death: |
October 6, 1951 in
Battle Creek, Michigan |
|
Nationality: |
American |
|
|
Invention: |
Kellogg's
Corn Flakes® |
|
|
Function: |
noun /
breakfast cereal |
|
Definition: |
A crisp,
flaky, commercially prepared cold cereal made from coarse cornmeal.
To be used as a breakfast food. |
|
Trademark: |
#73586717
(US) first used in commerce 12/22/1925 |
|
Milestones:
1860 Born in Battle Creek,
Michigan
1894 Invented cereal flakes as a healthy food
1990 started mail-order business called the Sanitas Food Company
1906 founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flakes Co., the world’s first
ready-to-eat cereal co.
1930 founded the W. K. Kellogg Foundation
1951 Died in Battle Creek, Michigan
CAPS: Kellogg, Kellogg's, Will Keith Kellogg, John Harvey Kellogg,
Battle Creek Michigan, Sanitas Food Company, Battle Creek Toasted Corn
Flakes Co., Kellogg Company, ARY, invention, cereal, corn flakes,
Kellogg's' corn flakes, cornflakes, SIP, history, biography, inventor. |
|
The Story:
Will Keith Kellogg, creator of the cereal company and the foundation that
bears his name, led three professional "lives" while making his mark on
Battle Creek, Michigan and the world. Born April 7, 1860, Will Keith Kellogg
lacked a formal education beyond the sixth grade. When he died Oct. 6, 1951,
at the age of 91, he had amassed a fortune and enriched the lives of people
in his hometown, and millions of people around the world. The
world-renowned benefactor and cereal industry leader began as a clerk at the Battle Creek
Sanitarium, also known as the San. It was there, searching for a vegetarian diet for
patients, that he discovered cereal flakes. His first job was as a stock-boy, followed by
the life of a traveling broom salesman in his late teens. He finally went to work as a
young man in the San, where his older brother, John Harvey Kellogg, was
physician-in-chief. Will Kellogg was bookkeeper and manager of the world-famous hospital,
which put virtually any task outside of medicine under his purview.
For years he assisted his brother in research aimed at improving the vegetarian diet of
the San's patients, especially the search for a digestible bread-substitute by the process
of boiling wheat. They never achieved their basic purpose, but stumbled on a major
dividend. In 1894, Will Kellogg accidentally left a pot of boiled wheat to stand and
become tempered. When it was put through the usual rolling process, each grain of wheat
emerged as a large, thin flake. Will persuaded his brother to serve the food in flake
form, and it was an immediate favorite among the patients.
Soon it was being packaged to meet hundreds of mail order requests from persons after
they left the San. Because John Kellogg had little interest in such matters, his brother
added another task to his long list of responsibilities: that of managing the burgeoning
packaged food enterprise. Using his sense of economics, an understanding of marketing
techniques and hard work Kellogg constantly increased production, advertising budgets and
sales. He expanded his business to Australia in 1924, guided the cereal company through
the Depression (he increased advertising while others cut back), and brought Kellogg's
cereal into England in 1938.
W. K.. Kellogg, who at 46 founded the Kellogg Company, was never comfortable with his
riches. In the 1920s, when many captains of industry were building castle-sized summer
"cottages" with 40-car garages, Kellogg lived a comparatively modest life. Even
as a millionaire, he resided for years in a two-story stucco house on 256 West Van Buren
Street in Battle Creek Michigan.
As a father, he feared the pitfalls of unearned wealth. None of his children would ever
become rich through inherited money. Explaining his tight rein on the family purse,
Kellogg once wrote, "I want that my sons develop into conscientious and truthful
men." As his wealth grew, Kellogg gave generously to charitable causes, many
involving children. By establishing the Kellogg Foundation, W.K. Kellogg sought to focus
his philanthropy. In 1934, W.K. Kellogg donated more than $66 million in Kellogg Company
stock and other investments to establish the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Kellogg was fiercely competitive, but also quiet, reserved, somber—an introvert.
Still, over the years, his support of charitable causes was enormous and varied. He became
convinced that the most good could be accomplished by helping young people. So in 1925, he
established the Fellowship Corporation. The Fellowship Corporation helped to build an
agricultural school and a bird sanctuary, and to establish an experimental farm and a
reforestation project. Kellogg also donated nearly $3 million to hometown causes, such as
the Ann J. Kellogg School for handicapped children, a civic auditorium, a junior high
school, and a youth recreation center.
President Herbert Hoover named him a delegate at a White House Conference on Child
Health and Protection. He returned from the conference determined to help. As a result, in
June 1930, the W.K. Kellogg Child Welfare Foundation was born. A few months later, he
broadened the focus of the charter, and renamed it the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Through his philanthropic work, Mr. Kellogg demonstrated great compassion and caring
and acted on his belief that the most good came from helping people to help
themselves--giving them the opportunity to do what is important to them. Kellogg worked at
the Foundation until just before his death. His grave in Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek
is marked by a simple monument of stone. But his legacy lives on. |
TO
LEARN MORE
RELATED INFORMATION:
The Entrepreneur from The Great Idea Finder
The Philanthropist from
The Great Idea Finder
Kellogg's Corn
Flakes
from The Great Idea Finder
History of Snacks and
Food
from The Great Idea Finder
ON THE BOOKSHELF:
Kellogg's
Six-Hour Day (Labor and Social Change)
by Benjamin Kline Hunnicutt / Paperback (November 1996) / Temple Univ Press
In 1930, W. K. Kellogg, the famed breakfast cereal magnate from Battle Creek,
Michigan, established a six-hour workday for his laborers. In the depths of the
Depression, this policy provided more labor for more workers, and the experiment continued
until the mid-1980s.
Kellogg's (Vgm's Business Portraits Series)
by William Gould / Hardcover - 48 pages (September 1997) / McGraw Hill - NTC
Introduces basic business concepts and explains what makes an enterprise
successful by telling the history of the Kellogg Company and the story
of its founder
Accidents May
Happen: 50 Inventions Discovered by Mistake
by Charlotte Foltz Jones, John O'Brien (Illustrator) / Hardcover - 86 pages
(1996) / Delacorte
Fifty inventions discovered by mistake receive entertaining cartoon embellishment but are
actually serious subjects which will delight and entertain kids.
ON THE SCREEN:
The Kellogg Brothers
DVD / 1 Volume Set / 50 Minutes / Biography Channel / Less than $25.00
/ Also VHS
One was an eccentric crusader for health. The other was a sober
businessman who turned their humble invention the corn flake into the
cornerstone of one of the most successful companies in the nation. John
Henry Kellogg and his little brother Will Keith played out one of the
most dramatic and bitter family feuds in American history, but for
twenty years before their split they were partners.
ON THE WEB:
W. K. Kellogg Biography
Adapted from an article prepared by the Kellogg Foundation
for the Battle Creek Enquirer, on the dedication of the Kellogg Foundation International
Headquarters in 1992.
(URL: www.wkkf.org/default.aspx?tabid=63&ItemID=3&NID=37&LanguageID=0)
W. K. Kellogg
Foundation
In 1934, W.K. Kellogg donated more than $66 million in Kellogg
Company stock and other investments to establish the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
(URL:
www.wkkf.org/default.aspx?tabid=63&ItemID=2&NID=36&LanguageID=0)
Marketing
Corn Flakes
Cornelius has been closely associated
with Corn Flakes and appeared in commercials from time to time since 1958.
(URL: www.kelloggs.com/company/marketing/history/cornelius.html)
Invention
Dimension - Inventor of the Week
Celebrates inventor/innovator role models through outreach activities and annual
awards to inspire a new generation of American scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.
(URL: web.mit.edu/invent/iow/kellogg.html)
Michigan Historical
Marker: WK Kellogg / Kellogg Company
W. K. Kellogg. At the age of fourteen, Will Keith Kellogg (1860 - 1951) began working
as a salesman for his father's broom business.
(URL: www.michmarkers.com/Pages/S0541.htm)
A Grandson Remembers
Keith Kellogg remembers his grandfather as a stern man with firm notions
about childrearing, a man who valued the rare commodity of common sense
and passed his values on to his descendants.
(URL: www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e_20020520/kelloggs.html)
CerealCity
USA
Kellogg's Cereal City USA™ is a themed family attraction
celebrating the cereal industry in an educational, historical and,
most importantly, entertaining manner. As a guest you can even purchase your
very own Kellogg’s Corn Flakes® box with your picture on it. Say cheese!
(URL: www.kelloggscerealcityusa.org/)
W K Kellogg Ranch
In 1925 breakfast food millionaire W. K. Kellogg purchased 377 acres for
$250,000 in Pomona as the site of his Arabian Horse Ranch. Mr. Kellogg
acquired only the best of stock, many head coming from Lady Wentworth's
historic Crabbet Stud in England.
(URL: www.class.csupomona.edu/his/skpuz/hst202/WKKbio.html)
DID YOU KNOW?:
- To avoid confusion with his competitors products, W K Kellogg
had his name and signature scripted on each package of Kellogg’s® Corn
Flakes along with the explanation " The original has this signature"
|
|
Designated
trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. |
| Reference
Sources in BOLD Type. |
This
page revised June 30, 2006. |
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