FIRST-machine sliced bread in America,Chillicothe, MO
N 39° 47.290 W 093° 33.088
15S E 452781 N 4404391
The Chillicothe Baking Company tried out the bread slicing machine of inventor Otto Rohredder on July 8, 1928 selling fresh bread to their grocery store customers. Thus the expression "the greatest thing since sliced bread" originated.
Waymark Code: WM987Y
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 07/12/2010
Views: 15
On July 8, 2010 a Facebook friend revealed to me that machine sliced bread was first sold to consumers on that date in 1928 right here in Missouri. So on July 9 I thought it would be fun to WAYMARK it. I had never been to Chillicothe,Missouri, whose name is a Shawnee Indian name for "our big town."
The baker Frank Bench of the Chillicothe Bread Company gambled on the success of inventor Otto Rohredder's new invention and started selling machine sliced bread to his customers in and around Chillicothe on that day in 1928.
His bakery was located at the corner of 1st and Elm Streets right near the Wabash Railroad Depot. The town served three railroads which could service an expanded customer base, I suspect.
The bakery building is still there and there is a sign that reads as follows:
"ON July 7, 1928 Chillicothe Baker Frank Bench and Inventor Otto Rohwedder secured Chillicothe, Missouri's Slice of History when their Bread Slicing Machine produced the first loaves of sliced bread. The Machine instantly changed the way consumers bought bread and increased the bakery's sales by 2000% in 2 weeks. The building at First and Elm Streets is the site where Sliced Bread history was made."
Another invention in 1926 certainly helped in this revolution. It was the invention of the pop-up electric toaster by Toastmaster. This device worked best with the standardized slices a bread slicing machine could deliver.
So, if you ever hear the expression "The greatest thing since sliced bread" I hope you'll think of Chillicothe, Missouri's slice of history and this WAYMARK.
FIRST - Classification Variable: Place or Location
Date of FIRST: 07/08/1928
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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