Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY
NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY. In 1898, National Biscuit Company was a 114-bakery cracker-making business which included the bakery once owned locally by Edwin W. ALBEE. National Biscuit dominated the American market for mass-produced cookies and crackers. During the first eight years of its existence, when annual sales were about $40 million, the company was based in Chicago. In 1906, the corporate headquarters was moved to New York.
By 1910, National Biscuit employed nearly 1,300 men and women at its bakeries in Chicago, one of which was built especially to produce the company's popular “Uneeda” brand. By the late 1950s, when annual sales passed $400 million, National Biscuit (also known as Nabisco) still had over 1,000 workers in the Chicago area.
In 1985, Nabisco was purchased by tobacco giant R. J. Reynolds. After 15 years of solid growth, Nabisco was purchased by another major American tobacco company, Phillip Morris for $19 billion. The Nabisco product line soon came under the operations of another Phillip Morris subsidiary, Kraft Foods of suburban Northfield. (1)
The 1913 Dubuque and Dubuque County Directory stated that this business was located at 28-30 S. Main.
The 1934 through 1966 Dubuque City Directory listed 651 Central.
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Source:
1. "National Biscuit Company," Encyclopedia of Chicago, Online: http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2786.html