General Mills

General Mills NYSE: GIS is a Fortune 500 corporation, mainly concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. more...

The company markets such brands as Betty Crocker, Progresso, Yoplait, and Pillsbury, as well as numerous well-known breakfast cereals (see below).

History

The company can trace its history to the Minneapolis Milling Company, an organization founded in 1856 by Cadwallader C. Washburn which leased power rights to mills operating along Saint Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River. His brother William D. Washburn also assisted in the company's development. In 1866, the Washburns got into the business themselves, building the Washburn "B" Mill at the falls. At the time, the building was considered to be so large and output so vast that it could not possibly sustain itself. However, the company succeeded and in 1874 he built the even bigger Washburn "A" Mill.

In 1877, the mill entered a partnership with John Crosby to form the Washburn-Crosby Company. A year later, the "A" mill exploded, killing 17 workers and also demolishing several nearby buildings. The mill was rebuilt and continued to operate for several decades. In the 1920s, the company stepped in to take over a failing Twin Cities radio station, renaming it WCCO.

General Mills was created in 1928 when Washburn-Crosby President James Ford Bell directed his company to merge with 26 other mills.

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