AGRICULTURAL VOLATILITY AND REFORM, AND MANUFACTURING MIGHT

The 1890s arrive with an economic thud. In 1893, one of the worst depressions in U.S. history shrinks farm prices, spikes unemployment and leads banks to the brink of insolvency.

The Gold Crisis of 1893 deflates the nation's gross national product by 7 percent. Fifteen thousand businesses go bankrupt, and unemployment soars.

Yet on January 8, 1894, the Robinson-Danforth Commission Company incorporates to expand a storefront feed business near the St. Louis riverfront. The business features a new product of corn, oats and molasses mixed by shovels and sewn by hand in 175-pound sacks.

The horseless carriage is coming. Electrification is in the air. The great Columbian Exposition of 1893 celebrates the new frontier.

Manufacturing is on the move — away from simple agrarian industries and toward higher-value products and a national market.

Undaunted, owners George Robinson, William H. Danforth and Will Andrews know that "animals must eat every day, all their lives," and farming remains the nation's single largest industry. Robinson-Danforth's first great challenge is in the form of a killer tornado. It comes to town on May 27, 1896, and literally levels the Robinson-Danforth Commission mill. The fledgling company appears to be finished before it gets started. Instead, a determined William H. Danforth borrows $10,000 to build a new mill at Eighth and Gratiot streets, and assumes a leadership position in the fledgling firm. The tide begins to turn.

By the late 1890s, depression gives way to great prosperity. St. Louis grows to become the nation's fourth largest city by the turn of the century. Farm prices increase, and agricultural products account for one-third of the nation's trade surplus. More than half of this comes from manufactured feedstuffs, like Purina's — "Where Purity is Paramount."

Consumer products companies begin to thrive as entrepreneurs deliver devices of safety and convenience. King Gillette gives men a close shave with the safety razor. Conrad Hubert and his American Ever Ready perfect the "electric hand torch"- the early name for a flashlight. Food processing becomes a major U.S. industry. Condensed soup makes its debut in 1897, courtesy of Campbell's; Swift, Armour, and Beech-Nut can hams and other meats; Heinz, Kellogg's, Quaker Oats and Pillsbury begin to integrate mass production with mass distribution, and become household names in the process.

Danforth witnesses this phenomenon and, without missing a beat, enters the human foods market in 1898 with Purina Wheat and a line of whole-wheat breakfast cereals. Danforth's fascination with fitness and health inspires the endorsement of "Dr. Ralston," a health guru with 800,000 followers. "In a million homes," a 1902 advertisement boasts, "Ralston Purina Cereals find a welcome home on the breakfast table." And why not? Ralston Barley Food "Builds Brain and Muscle." Purina Health Flour "is much better for the family than white bread." And Ralston Hominy Grits — "My! but it's good!" By 1902, Ralston brand cereals and Purina brand feeds are so promising, the company name is changed to Ralston Purina.

Seeking a consistent and distinctive dress for Purina products, Danforth remembers the Brown family from his youth, all dressed in clothes from the same bolt of Checkerboard cloth. According to legend, "You couldn't miss a Brown kid." Danforth selects the Checkerboard as Ralston's trademark.