Yet Another Day Of Celebration
Yes folks, on this date in 1853, Gail Borden patented his process for creating condensed milk. The product was successful enough that the “Gail Borden Jr., and Company” was founded in Connecticut in 1857. Gail Borden had the same business sense I have but investors saved the company in 1858 and changed the name to the “New York Condensed Milk Company“.
Sounds downright “homey”, doesn’t it?
The company prospered selling condensed milk to the Union Army – samples from 1863 are shown below.
Anyone up to popping a top bottom and sampling the contents?
No? Oh well…
The company started using glass bottles in 1885, evaporated milk in 1892, and changed the name to “Borden’s Condensed Milk Company” in 1899, changed again to the “Borden Company” in 1919.
The company reorganized as a holding company in 1929 for Borden’s Food Products, Borden’s Dairy Products, Borden’s Ice Cream and Milk, and Borden’s Cheese & Produce.
Borden created the forerunner of Key Lime Pie with its Magic Lemon Cream Pie in 1931.
The company reorganized again as a unified company in 1936, combining the four separate companies, and introduced Elsie the Cow.
Further expansion came about in WWII when the company sold non-dairy creamer, instant coffee, and powdered food.
Yum, yum!
Borden started acquiring smaller companies in the 1950s – Cracker Jack among them – and expanded into inks, fertilizers, and plastics in 1953; they were so successful, the company reorganized again to create a chemical and petroleum division.
It went on another expansion in the 1980s (including the purchase of Meadow Gold), but suffered losses in the early ’90s blamed on mismanagement, excessive debt, and too many restructurings (remember the nation-wide craze of mergers and acquisitions of the 1980s?)
The company was bought out in 1995 and shattered into many scattered pieces; the final portion sold to Kraft in 2001. One of the purchasing companies revitalized the name in 2009 but filed for bankruptcy in 2020. The assets were put up for auction, purchased, and continued to operate as “Borden Dairy Company”
The Borden name and Elsie still live on.
Now, isn’t that far more than you wanted to know about Borden?
All because I had this photo of old condensed milk cans and found that May 14 is the day Borden filed for his patent.
I like reading little slivers of Americana history like that.
“It’s got to be good if it’s Borden’s, if it’s Borden’s it’s got to be good.”
Scanning the Google headlines, that Trump is slammin’ deals worldwide idn’t he? And the gurlbaby’s cried and cried and cried.
I too can keep going on internet rabbit holes just to see how deep they might go. Plus, Key Lime Pie and Cracker Jacks. Two of my favorites.
If there is Key Lime Pie anywhere within the room you are advised to just stay back out of the way. And take notes.
Crackerjacks? If all they have are them fake tattoos I’m not innerested.
Wondering what the “toy” was was the best part!
A police officer once asked me if I got my driver license out of a box of Cracker Jacks.
We’re so lucky to have you to dispense/disburse/distribute the most interesting trivia. Don’t stop.
Borden’s was a power house bottling and distributor locally, until the local facility closed in the mid-nineties. Their products are still available, but usually more expensive and I have no idea where the milk comes from. I wondered what happened, and your post explains it all. I’m guessing they couldn’t compete against the large chains like Walmart and HEB.
Excellent story DT. A great little slice of history.
About Them Tariffs
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Thank you for this info. We came home after being away for more than a month. The first morning we got up and DH made coffee, but we had no milk! I checked in the pantry and sure enough there was a can of Borden’s Condensed! We laughed and decided it was better to try what we had than to drink our coffee black. The condensed milk worked really well–much better than we expected. If you take cream and sugar in your coffee this is a good emergency back up.