Henry Drushel Perky was a lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, businessman, promoter and inventor. Perky is the inventor of shredded wheat

Shredded Wheat

Shredded wheat is a breakfast cereal made from whole wheat. As of January 2010, it was available in three sizes: bite sized , miniature , and full size, which may be broken into small pieces before milk is added .Both sizes are available in a...

.

Early life

He was born in Saltcreek township, Holmes County, Ohio

Holmes County, Ohio

As of the census of 2000, there were 38,943 people, 11,337 households, and 9,194 families residing in the county. The population density was 92 people per square mile . There were 12,280 housing units at an average density of 29 per square mile...

, the fifth son of Daniel Jefferson Perky (ca. 1808-?) and Magdalena Drushel (ca. 1812-?), both of Pennsylvania. He married his wife Susanna Melissa Crow (1845-?) on 3 August 1865 in Mount Hope, Ohio

Mount Hope, Ohio

Mount Hope is an unincorporated community in eastern Salt Creek Township, Holmes County, Ohio, United States. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 44660. It lies along State Route 241.-References:...

. He studied law and was admitted to the bar

Bar association

A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...

 in Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

. He was elected to the Nebraska State Senate

Nebraska Legislature

The Nebraska Legislature is the supreme legislative body of the State of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. The Legislature meets at the Nebraska State Capitol in the City of Lincoln, Lancaster County....

 in 1868 when only twenty-five years old (although other sources suggest he represented the eighth district from 1874–1876). The couple lived at Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

 and Wahoo, Nebraska

Wahoo, Nebraska

Wahoo is a city in Saunders County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 4,508 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Saunders County.-History:Wahoo was founded in 1870...

 before 1880. Henry went to Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 for his health in 1880 where he was an attorney for the Union Pacific Railroad

Union Pacific Railroad

The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....

. Sue followed from Wahoo later that same year and, in Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

, she gave birth to their only surviving child, Scott Henry Perky (1880-?). Scott H. Perky went on to be a writer; the life of his father was the subject of one of his books. (In 1920, Scott Perky invented a shredded wheat product called Muffets, marketed by his company Toasticks; Muffets were later sold by the Quaker Oats Company

Quaker Oats Company

The Quaker Oats Company is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago. It has been owned by Pepsico since 2001.-History:Quaker Oats was founded in 1901 by the merger of four oat mills:...

 as "the round shredded wheat".)

Steel Car Company

In 1884, the assets — a patent and a half-finished car — of the bankrupt Robbins Cylindrical Steel Car Company were acquired by Byron A. Atkinson (1854-19?? ), a well-to-do Boston furniture dealer with some background as a machinist. To promote his cylindrical steel rail passenger car, Atkinson hired Henry Perky, who had quite a reputation for making money during times that ruined other businessmen. Their firm was the Steel Car Company.

While the railcar was being built, Perky was busy trying to find a place to build a huge plant for building steel cars. He first proposed Chicago, Illinois, but when this didn’t generate significant interest, in 1888 he proposed Lincoln, Nebraska

Lincoln, Nebraska

The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....

, and there the car would be named the "City of Lincoln". This idea too failed to catch on, so Perky moved on.

Perky finally found backing in St. Joseph, Missouri and there, in late 1888, at a cost of some $70,000, he erected a building on a large plot of land east of the city "beyond Wyatt Park". He also organized an exposition, to be called the National Railway, Electric and Industrial Exposition, but more popularly known as the "New Era Exposition". The exposition was set up on the grounds of the Steel Car Company, with the western portion of its building as the main hall of the exposition.

On the night of 15 September 1889 a fire swept through the main building of the exposition. The ten cars being built, the Steel Car Company plant, all the assets of the Steel Car Company were a total loss. Perky, not one to be easily discouraged, took the original Robbins car (that had been outfitted as a private car for Atkinson's personal use) for a transcontinental tour. Though it attracted a good deal of attention, it attracted no orders.

The cylindrical car was shown at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition

World's Columbian Exposition

The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...

 in Chicago, Illinois, but again attracted no orders. Although almost $40,000 had been spent on it, when the exposition closed, the railcar was abandoned on the fairgrounds and later sold by the firm that dismantled the Exposition.

Shredded Wheat Company

Sometime in the early 1890s, at a Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

 hotel, Perky — who suffered from diarrhea — encountered a man similarly afflicted, who was eating boiled wheat with cream. The idea cooked for a while in Perky’s mind, and in 1892, he took his idea of a product made of boiled wheat to his friend, William H. Ford, in Watertown, New York — a machinist by trade. Here they developed the machine for making what Perky called "little whole wheat mattresses", known worldwide as shredded wheat

Shredded Wheat

Shredded wheat is a breakfast cereal made from whole wheat. As of January 2010, it was available in three sizes: bite sized , miniature , and full size, which may be broken into small pieces before milk is added .Both sizes are available in a...

. They presented the machine at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, probably while Perky was trying to drum up buyers for his cylindrical steel rail passenger car.

His original intention was to sell the machines, not the biscuits. He returned to Denver and began distributing the biscuits from a horse-drawn wagon in an attempt to popularize the idea. There he founded The Cereal Machine Company. In 1895, Perky received United States Patent Number 548,086, dated 15 October 1895.

The biscuits proved more popular than the machines, so Perky moved East and opened his first bakery in Boston, Massachusetts and then in Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....

 in 1895, retaining the name of The Cereal Machine Company, and adding the name of The Shredded Wheat Company.

Whether he developed his ideas on nutrition

Nutrition

Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....

 before the machine or after, Perky was a food faddist who believed the fundamental issue was how to nourish a man so that his condition will be natural. Although John Harvey Kellogg

John Harvey Kellogg

John Harvey Kellogg was an American medical doctor in Battle Creek, Michigan, who ran a sanitarium using holistic methods, with a particular focus on nutrition, enemas and exercise. Kellogg was an advocate of vegetarianism and is best known for the invention of the corn flakes breakfast cereal...

 and Charles William Post are better known, Perky was a pioneer of the "cookless breakfast food" and it was he who first mass produced and nationally distributed ready-to-eat cereal. By 1898, shredded wheat was being sold all over North

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and South America and Europe.

In 1901, drawn by the idea of inexpensive electrical power for baking, and the natural draw of a popular tourist attraction, he hired Edward A. Deeds

Edward A. Deeds

Edward Andrew Deeds was an American engineer, inventor and industrialist prominent in the Dayton, Ohio area.-Biography:...

 to build a new plant at Niagara Falls, New York

Niagara Falls, New York

Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 50,193, down from the 55,593 recorded in the 2000 census. It is across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario , both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they...

. Deeds became a director of the National Food Company. Perky invited a large number of notables to a special luncheon. Canadian author Pierre Berton describes the bill of fare: "...a Shredded Wheat drink, Shredded Wheat biscuit toast, roast turkey stuffed with Shredded Wheat, and Shredded Wheat ice cream". The factory itself was called "The Palace of Light", and was white-tiled, air-conditioned, well-lit with floor to ceiling windows, and equipped with showers, lunchrooms (a free lunch for women – men had to pay 10¢), and auditoriums for the employees. It even had a roof garden with a view of the Falls. A representation of the factory appeared on the Shredded Wheat boxes for decades.

Retirement

In 1902, Perky retired from the company and disposed of his interest. He published a book on nutrition and oral hygiene

Oral hygiene

Teeth cleaning is part of oral hygiene and involves the removal of dental plaque from teeth with the intention of preventing cavities , gingivitis, and periodontal disease. People routinely clean their own teeth by brushing and interdental cleaning, and dental hygienists can remove hardened...

, Wisdom vs. Foolishness, that went through at least ten editions. Having made his fortune, the following year Perky arrived in Glencoe, Maryland

Glencoe, Maryland

Glencoe is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Glencoe was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983....

 and began purchasing large tracts of land in the region. His dream was to build a boarding school for men and women that would offer an innovative curriculum of scientific farming and domestic science subjects free of tuition. The main building was completed, elaborate brochures were printed and a few students had enrolled. The plans for the dedication were in place when Perky died days before the grand opening and the Oread School never opened.

Henry D. Perky died on June 29, 1906 at his farm in Glencoe. His obituary stated that he had been ill for a long time and that a fall from a horse a month earlier had hastened his death. He is buried in Glencoe, Maryland.

Shredded Wheat Company sold to Nabisco

In 1908, the company again took the name of The Shredded Wheat Company, and another factory was built in Niagara Falls. A third plant was added in Niagara Falls, Ontario

Niagara Falls, Ontario

Niagara Falls is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The municipality was incorporated on June 12, 1903...

 in 1904, known as The Canadian Shredded Wheat Company. By 1915 The Pacific Coast Shredded Wheat Company had been added in Oakland, California, and by 1925, a factory in England, outside London in Welwyn Garden City, had joined the family.

In December 1928, the company was sold to The National Biscuit Company

Nabisco

Nabisco is an American brand of cookies and snacks. Headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey, the company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Kraft Foods. Nabisco's plant in Chicago, a production facility at 7300 S...

. The product name changed to Nabisco Shredded Wheat around 1941. Production of Shredded Wheat was begun in Naperville, Illinois

Naperville, Illinois

Naperville is a city in DuPage and Will Counties in Illinois in the United States, voted the second best place to live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2006. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 141,853. It is the fifth largest city in the state, behind Chicago,...

in 1970. All the other plants remained in operation, until 1954, when the original "Palace of Light" was shut down.

Patents

— Machine for the Preparation of Cereals for Food, granted August 1, 1893 — Machine for the Manufacture of Food Products from Cereals, granted May 29, 1894 — Machine for the Manufacture of Food Products from Cereals, granted June 26, 1894 — Receiving-Trough and Cutter for Cereal-Reducing Machines, granted January 8, 1895 — Perforated-Roll Machine for Reducing Cereals for Food, granted January 15, 1895 — Roll-Machine for Reducing Cereals for Food, granted January 15, 1895 — Groove-Roll Machine for Reducing Cereals for Food, granted January 15, 1895, , , — Roll-Machine for Reducing Cereals for Food, granted February 5, 1895 — Machine for Reduction and Preparation of Cereals for Food, granted February 5, 1895 — Design for a Biscuit, issued September 17, 1895 — Bread and Method of Preparing Same, granted October 15, 1895 — Apparatus for Preparing Grain for Reducing-Machines, granted October 15, 1895 — Design for a Cereal Cup, issued March 31, 1896 — Machine for Reducing and Preparing Cereals for Food, granted November 10, 1896 — Machine for Reducing Cereals, granted November 10, 1896 — Coffee-Roaster, granted January 26, 1897 — Roll Reducing-Machine for Preparing Food, granted February 8, 1898 — Design for a Wafer, issued June 7, 1898 — Game Apparatus, granted September 27, 1898 — Machine for Reducing Cereal Food Products to Form for Use, granted November 15, 1898 — Apparatus for Making Folded Wafers, granted January 24, 1899 — Machine for Reducing and Baking Cereals in Form, granted May 23, 1899 — Apparatus for Manufacturing Cereals into Forms of Food or Bread, granted February 12, 1901 — Machine for Reducing Food Material to Form and Distributing Same, granted July 9, 1901 — Pneumatic Panning or Distributing Machine, granted July 16, 1901 — Continuous Heating and Baking Machine, granted August 27, 1901 — Continuous Cutting-Machine, granted August 27, 1901 — Design for a Carton-Blank, issued December 31, 1901 — Design for a Stove, issued August 12, 1902 — Filamentous Cracker, granted November 18, 1902 — Continuous Motion Heating and Evaporating Apparatus, granted December 8, 1903 — Stove, granted December 22, 1903 — Machine for Preparing Food, granted August 22, 1905
Posthumously granted: — Machine for Manufacturing Cereal Biscuit, granted February 4, 1908 — Apparatus for Continuous Cooking, granted September 15, 1908 — Machine for Reducing Grain Products to Composite Forms of Food, granted February 16, 1909 — Reducing Disk Machine for the Manufacture of Cereal Products, granted February 23, 1909 — Machine for Manufacturing Grain into Form for Food, granted May 23, 1909 — Manufacture of Food from Cereals, granted March 14, 1911 — Variegated Corn Filament, granted March 14, 1911 — Machine for Manufacturing Grain into Form for Food, granted April 18, 1911 — Process of Manufacturing Grain into Form for Food, granted March 12, 1912 — Reducing Ground Grain to Elongated or Filament Form, granted March 26, 1912 — Machine for Manufacturing Grain into Form for Food, granted April 9, 1912 — Food from Grain and Method of Making the Same, granted May 14, 1912 — Form of Food from Grain and Method of Manufacturing the Same, granted May 6, 1913 — Process of Manufacturing Cereal Food, granted June 10, 1913 — Compound Forms, granted April 28, 1914 — Means for Reducing Cereal Products to Form, granted June 15, 1915 — Machine for Manufacturing Grain into Form for Food, granted July 13, 1915 — Machine for Manufacturing Grain into Form for Food, granted July 20, 1915