The Budlong Pickle Company was an American company that made and marketed pickles from its own cucumbers. It was sold in 1958. The Budlong pickle legacy has recently been revived as the namesake of a hot dog restaurant based in Chicago.
Background
Budlong was based in Chicago, a center of the pickle industry in the late 19th century.[1] Among the reasons for Chicago's pickle prominence were ample supplies of salt and a robust rail infrastructure.[2]
Early history
In the late 1850s, Lyman A. Budlong (1829–1909)[3] started a large farm in Chicago—in an area now named Budlong Woods—called the Budlong Nursery.[4] The Budlong family, an old Rhode Island family and the namesake of Budlong Farm, were established farmers and picklers on the East Coast, with a large operation in Cranston, Rhode Island.[5][6] In 1899, Joseph J. Budlong—Lyman's brother—patented a vegetable sorting device "particularly applicable to the sorting or grading of pickles according to size".[7]
The Nursery, nicknamed the "village of glass" after its many greenhouses, produced large quantities of cucumbers, onions, and other vegetables.[4] It also grew flowers.[8] Approximately 500 acres (2.0 km2) in size, the center of the farm was at what is now the intersection of California and Foster Avenues in the Budlong Woods section of Chicago's Lincoln Square community area.[9]
The Budlong Pickle Company, founded in 1857 or 1859, was part of the Nursery, and later eclipsed it in size.[9][10][11] The Pickle Company was the largest pickle farm in the world by 1903;[12] as of 1928, it was described as "one of the largest pickle factories in the world".[13] It sold approximately 100,000 bushels of pickled cucumbers during the late 19th century.[10] The factory was located at the intersection of Lincoln and Berwyn avenues.[8]
The Nursery property was a golf course by the late 1920s, but the Pickle Company continued operations thereafter.[2] Lyman Budlong had reportedly made around $1.5 million (approximately equivalent to $50,867,000 in 2023) from the Nursery as of his death c. November 1909.[3][14]
Mid-century and sale
George L. Hathaway was Budlong's longtime president.[15] In 1945, Hathaway was presented with an award by the National Pickle Packers Association for demonstrating "outstanding fairness … in procuring pickles for the armed forces".[16]
Budlong also had offices elsewhere, including Fulton County, Indiana[citation needed] and, as of 1936, Columbia, Mississippi.[17]
In 1958, it merged with a Green Bay, Wisconsin–based food company specializing in pickles, which was later acquired by Dean Foods.[15][18][19]
Present day
Although the Nursery and Pickle Company no longer exist, a Chicago-based hot dog restaurant and food truck has taken on the Budlong name.[20][21]
References
- ^ Busch, Mary; Mayse-Lillig, Tim (2013). Morton Grove. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7385-9881-9.
- ^ a b Eng, Monica (August 20, 2017). "City of Big Ag: The Crops Chicago Was Famous For". WBEZ. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Rich Truck Farmer Dead". Dakota Farmers' Leader. Chronicling America. November 26, 1909.
- ^ a b "Budlong, Lyman A." Chicago Public Library.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Rapoza, Lydia L.; Miller, Bette (June 1999). Cranston. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 7, 53–54. ISBN 978-0-7385-0158-1.
- ^ The Underwriter. Chicago: Fidelity Publishing Company. 1896. p. 96.
- ^ US 621788A, Joseph J. Budlong, "Vegetable-sorter", published 1899-03-28.
- ^ a b "Community Area #4: Lincoln Square". Chicago Historic Resources Survey (PDF). Preservation Chicago. pp. III-23–III-24.
- ^ a b Fuller, Ernest (January 22, 1954). "Picklers Take Jokes, Bear Up Under Profits: Chicago Packers Lead in Volume". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest document ID 178612951.
Its first plant was near Lincoln and Foster avs …
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b Atkinson, Eleanor Stackhouse (1903). The Story of Chicago and National Development, 1534–1910. Chicago: Little Chronicle Publishing. p. 105. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Nickerson, Matthew (2014). Lake View. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-4671-1119-5.
- ^ "14 Skeletons found under a Pickle Farm". Chicago and Cook County Cemeteries. August 9, 2017.
- ^ Chase, Al (July 4, 1928). "Budlong Buys Site for New Pickle Plant". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest document ID 180957190.
- ^ Watts, R. L. (December 9, 1909). "Market Gardening". National Stockman and Farmer. 33 (36): 881. ProQuest document ID 853434495. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b Heise, Kenan (January 11, 1997). "George L. Hathaway, 97; Former President of Budlong Pickle Co". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "NPPA Honors Army Buyers". Canning Trade. 68 (18): 12. November 26, 1945.
- ^ "Facts about Columbia, Mississippi". The Baptist Record. January 16, 1936. p. 11.
- ^ "Green Bay Foods Company". Food Production/Management. 101 (3): 8. September 1978.
- ^ "Budlong Pickle to Merge with Green Bay Food". Chicago Tribune. December 26, 1958. ProQuest document ID 182182995.
- ^ Woodard, Benjamin (January 12, 2015). "Budlong Pickle Shop, Restaurant to Revive Lincoln Square's Pickling History". DNAinfo. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Treon, Rebecca (April 11, 2018). "Chicago-based Budlong bringing its Nashville Hot Chicken to Denver". The Denver Post.
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