Quaker Maid

For nearly a half century, 300 grocery products displaying "Made in
Terre Haute" were distributed by the A & P Co. (the Great Atlantic &
Pacific Tea Co.) throughout the United States.

The Quaker Maid Company, processor of foods bearing the Ann Page,
Sultana and Iona labels, at one time provided employment for about 1,200
people, including research chemists, engineers and laboratory
technicians. The annual payroll reached nearly $6 million. Within a
decade after the original North Fruitridge Ave. plant opened in 1930,
demand for its commodities exceeded capacity. In 1940, another factory -
nearly equaling the initial 300,000- square-foot building - was
attached. After a second expansion in 1953, Quaker Maid was referred to
as "the nation's largest food processing plan under one roof."

Spaghetti, macaroni, mayonnaise, salad dressing, mustard, catsup, peanut
butter, pork and beans, olives, preserves, jams, jellies and flavoring
extracts were among the many items refined in Terre Haute. Each day raw
materials from all over the world arrived by truck and rail. Massive
quantities of the ripe green olives came in 160-gallon wooden casks from
Spain. By 1960, 250 million packages, cans, jars and cartons were being
distributed from the plant annually.

The top three floors of the six-story facility were devoted to
processing. Packaging, bottling and canning were accomplished on 30
different equipment lines on the third level. The laundry serviced
linens, aprons, smocks and jackets from 1,300 Midwest A & P outlets,
requiring 100 employees. Satellite industries like box and paper
production, railroads, trucking and warehousing also profited.

From 1929 - when ground was broken at Fruitridge and Locust - until May
1, 1964, Charles W. Westrup headed the Terre Haute operation. He was
succeeded by Edward H. Melvin Sr. Later successors would include Howard
E. Wolfe, Robert Monroe and Edward J. Carlson.

In the early 1960s, A & P erected a 110-acre facility in Horseheads,
N.Y., to replace its Brooklyn mill. Soon thereafter, Quaker Maid was
downsized in stages as production and employees were moved east. In
1979, the Terre Haute plant was closed. A few years later, the Great
Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company ceased food processing and the Horseheads
plant was also abandoned. Jadcore Inc. currently occupies the former
Quaker Maid plant.