LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - JANUARY 19, 2020 by Lynne Belluscio A couple of days ago, I received a little booklet in the mail from a lady in Brockport. As she noted, “You may have many of these, but thought the Jell-O Museum would be a good home.” We do have one of these booklets, but this one is in excellent condition. And what’s so great is that it has some photos of the local LeRoy folks who worked in the factory on North Street. The booklet was published before 1964, when Jell-O moved and when Les Pridgeon was plant manager. I think it has one of the best histories of Jell-O. It also illustrates many of the General Foods products at that time, such as Yuban and Maxwell House coffee; Post Toasties, Grape Nuts, Sugar Crisp, Minute Rice, Swans Down Flour, Bakers Chocolate, Birds Eye frozen foods, Log Cabin Syrup, Kool Aide, Gains dog food, and LaFrance Instant bluing. It mentions that Jell-O from LeRoy was shipped to 13 different states which represented 40% of the population of the U.S. The annual payroll was nearly $1,500,000. People photographed include Carl Martin and Jim Seaman, Betty Feeley, Bertha Blood, Barbara Scripter, and Frances Mancuso. The photos are pretty small, and probably won’t show up too well, but I’ve tried to include as many as will fit on this page. It was interesting to read the following: "Men like Orator F. Woodward who founded the original companies and developed these quality branded products were pioneers in the packaged food industry. Along with their valuable brand names and trademarks which are the company’s stock and trade, General Foods has inherited many intangibles, the progressive spirit and courage of these founders . . . their standards of quality . . . . their dedication to public service . their faith in the future." Your Visit to Jell-O Pictured Top Left: Bertha Blood who had been with the company 48 years, tests for acidity. Barbara Scripter on right. Pictured Top Right: Frances Mancuso inspecting Jell-O boxes. Pictured Bottom Left: Betty Feeley feeds cartons into a packaging machine. Pictured Bottom Right: Carl Martin, right, fills a lofty bin with sugar. Jim Seaman checks the weight.