ca. 1931. Dennison & Company, chicken canners, Fern Hill. Belle and Lee Dennison founders of food line. This view of equipment at the cannery was taken circa 1931. See series 310, image 069 for exterior view of Dennison & Company.

ca. 1931. Tacoma Grain Company, Pyramid Flour plant in Tacoma photographed from a boat on Puget Sound.

Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Grain Industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma Grain Co. (Tacoma); Pyramid Flour (Tacoma)

ca. 1931. An employee at the Tacoma Grain Company apparently bagging grain for the Washington State Grain Inspectors.

Tacoma Grain Co. (Tacoma); Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Grain industry--Tacoma--1930-1940

ca. 1931. A male employee at the Tacoma Grain Company holds a large filter that is used in the nearby grain sifter. This photograph was taken circa 1931.

Tacoma Grain Co. (Tacoma); Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Grain industry--Tacoma--1930-1940;

ca. 1931. Two men in the quality control lab at Tacoma Grain Company do chemical tests on the flour being produced. A bag of Centennial silk-sfted flour sits on the lab bench.

Tacoma Grain Co. (Tacoma); Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Grain industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Laboratories--Tacoma--1930-1940

ca. 1931. Dennison & Company, chicken canners, Fern Hill. Belle and Lee Dennison founders of food line. Glass jars filled with Dennison's Tender Chicken on display circa 1931.

ca. 1931. Dennison & Company, chicken canners, Fern Hill. Belle and Lee Dennison founders of food line. Unidentified Dennison employee stands near canning equipment circa 1931.

ca. 1931. An older male employee at the Tacoma Grain Company stands next to a large, belt-driven piece of machinery.

Tacoma Grain Co. (Tacoma); Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Grain industry--Tacoma--1930-1940;

ca. 1931. A line of men employees work at the flour bagging machines at the Tacoma Grain Company. A supervisor in white shirt, vest and tie oversees their work. The machines are used to fill a number of different bags. Bags are marked "Centennial - Silk Sifted - Family Flour"; "Cross Spears - Wong Sui Yuen"; and "Seattle - 100% Entire Whole Wheat Flour".

Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Grain industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma Grain Co. (Tacoma); Bags

ca. 1931. Employees of the Tacoma Grain Company work at what appear to be belt driven grain grinders, to make flour from grain.

Tacoma Grain Co. (Tacoma); Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Grain industry--Tacoma--1930-1940;

ca. 1931. Dennison & Company, chicken canners, Fern Hill. Belle and Lee Dennison founders of food line. This circa 1931 photograph depicts five women working at an assembly line of glass jars full of Dennison chicken.

ca. 1931. Tacoma Grain Company, Pyramid Flour plant taken from a boat on Puget Sound.

Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Grain industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Tacoma Grain Co. (Tacoma); Pyramid Flour (Tacoma)

ca. 1931. Testing bakery at the Tacoma Grain Company. A woman hold a fresh loaf of bread as she stands next to a testing oven. There is a line of seven loaves of bread on the shelf behind her. A bag of Centennial Silk-Sifted Flour is prominently displayed on the shelf next to the oven.

Tacoma Grain Co. (Tacoma); Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Grain industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Bread--Tacoma--1930-1940;

Dennison's Chili, found in markets today, was first made in a Tacoma plant located in Fern Hill. The factory opened in 1925, when they moved to Fern Hill. Belle Dennison started canning chicken in her kitchen in 1915. Friends raved about the product and soon her husband Lee was selling it to local stores. When this photograph was taken in 1931, 15 women from the Fern Hill neighborhood worked at Dennison & Company. Meat from 45,000 chickens, purchased at nearby ranches and packed in glass jars, was sold in stores from Alaska to the border of Mexico. The product line was expanded in the 1930s and sold about 1938 when the company moved to Seattle. (TDL, 3/29/1931, p. 4A).

Exterior of Sperry Flour Milling Co.

Sperry Flour Milling Co. (Tacoma);

Extension of Sperry Flour Milling Co.

Sperry Flour Milling Co. (Tacoma);

Sperry Flour Milling Co. loading extension

Sperry Flour Milling Co. (Tacoma);

Ray Seger, chef, and wife Eunice, package green lima beans with ham at the new Magic Foods, Inc. frozen food plant in Tacoma. Seger's recipes are incorporated into chicken a la king, chili con carne, beef hash, and baked beans which are cooked, packaged and frozen as ready-to-serve items for restaurants and markets. Magic Foods' slogan is: "Just heat 'em..n' eat 'em." (T.Times, 7/30/1943, p.11 and TNT 7/29/1943, p. 24)

Food industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Magic Foods, Inc. (Tacoma); Seger, Ray; Seger, Eunice;

Magic Foods Store. Employees at work in the commercial kitchen. Three stations are shown. One man is checking on a large cooker, two are stirring large pots, another is moving beans down a slanted tray, one is cutting potatoes, a woman cuts meat and another man is moving a tray. Large windows line one wall of the kitchen. (T.Times, 7/30/1943, p.11)

Food industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Magic Foods, Inc. (Tacoma);

In 1943, Magic Foods Inc. opened a plant in Tacoma at 617 E. 25th St. to prepare quick-frozen, ready-to-serve dishes. This photograph shows Chef Ray Seger and his wife, Eunice, preparing one of his carefully tested recipes. Ready cooked dishes were aimed at busy housewives and war workers who did not have enough time to prepare more traditional meals. The five ready cooked meals available in July of 1943 were baked beans, green lima beans and ham, beef hash, chili con carne, and chicken a la king. Before becoming the chef for Magic Foods, Mr. Seger had been a chef at several of Tacoma's better restaurants. (T.Times, 7/30/1943, p.11; TNT, 7/29/1943, p.24)

Food industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Magic Foods, Inc. (Tacoma); Seger, Ray; Seger, Eunice;

Magic Foods Store. Chef Ray Seger and another employee at work in the commercial kitchen both wearing white uniforms. The woman is cutting meat from a large roast and the man is cutting potatoes. Large electric ovens are seen behind them. This is a new plant preparing frozen, ready cooked dishes. (T.Times, 7/30/1943, p.11)

Food industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Magic Foods, Inc. (Tacoma);

General Mills, South Tacoma, Farm service Division. A granary, feed mill, wholesale and retail feed and farm supply store buildings are shown. Cars are parked along the storage building.

General Mills, Inc., Farm Service Division (Tacoma); Agricultural facilities--Tacoma;

This photograph, taken in December 1943, shows the sales office and loading dock of the General Mills, Inc. Farm Services Division at 5440-48 So. Washington St. in South Tacoma. The old brick grain wherehouse was built before 1908 by W.H. Kenworthy to take advantage of the proximity of this area to the Northern Pacific Shops were Mr. Kenworthy had worked before opening the granary. Part of the Kenworthy complex is currently used by X-Cel Feed Inc. One of the other building recently opened at the Brickyard Bar &Grill. TPL-6516

General Mills, Inc., Farm Service Division (Tacoma); Agricultural facilities--Tacoma;

Sperry Flour Co. Sperry Flour Co. has gone through regular expansion in order to remain one of the top three flour mills in Tacoma. Exterior view of plant where flour gets loaded into train cars.

Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; General Mills, Inc., Sperry Division (Tacoma); Railroad freight cars--Tacoma--1940-1950;

Sperry Flour Co. Flour milling is one of the oldest industries in the Northwest. Sperry Flour Division in Tacoma was just one plant of the many throughout the West. The Tacoma plant did most of the international exporting. The company celebrated its 92nd anniversary this year. Exterior view of plant.

Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; General Mills, Inc., Sperry Division (Tacoma);

Sperry Flour Co. Sperry Flour Co. was the largest milling organization in the West. The Tacoma plant produces 5,000 barrels per day of flour, which allows for large amounts to get sent throughout the world. Exterior view of plant.

Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; General Mills, Inc., Sperry Division (Tacoma);

Nalley's opened a new potato chip factory which houses a continuous chip frier. Only Kennebec potatoes were used by Nalley's to make potato chips. After harvesting the potatoes were held in a tempering room until the sugar content reverted, through natural processes, to starch. They were then dropped by a lift truck into a hopper where they began their journey along conveyor belts for washing, peeling, inspection, slicing, and rinsing. Chips were dropped into a long kettle where an employee controled the speed at which the chips were propelled through the hot oil. Here potato chips come down a conveyor belt and are reviewed by two workers for quality. The chips continue through a machine with a hood and then out of sight on the left. The factory contained a 10,000 gallon fuel tank to supply potato chip friers and two 5,000 gallon salad oil tanks. Three large air conditioned rooms stored the chips. (T.Times, 8/28/1946, p.5; Christian Science Monitor, 9/27/1958, p.10)

Nalleys, Inc. (Tacoma); Potato chips; Food industry--Tacoma--1940-1950;

Nalley's Inc. Pickle barrels. Rows of wide barrels stand in an open factory. Barrels in the foreground are full of pickles while those in the background are empty. Foam on top of the pickles and brine follow the gridlines of the nets protecting the pickles. Open beams are overhead and windows line the far wall.

Food industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Nalley's, Inc. (Tacoma);

Marcus Nalley, founder of Nalley's Inc., and L. Evert Landon, long-time employee, expanded their product line with the L & N Pickle Company. In 1941, a pickle factory was the first of many buildings built on the company's newly acquired l0-acre site in the Center Street District, now Nalley Valley. Women on the pickle assembly line pack cucumbers into glass jars for processing, capping and labeling as Nalley's "Treasure Pickles".

Food industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Nalley's, Inc. (Tacoma); Assembly-line methods--Tacoma; Pickles; Women--Tacoma--1940-1950; Bottles;

In this photograph taken for Nalley's Inc. in 1946, an unidentified employee uses a dip net to transfer pickles from a large wooden vat to a wooden crate. The forklift in the background will be used to move the crate of pickles to the canning line where they will be put in glass jars. For over 60 years, Nalley's produced pickles at their plant in Nalley Valley. In 2002 Dean Foods, the company that purchased Nalley's pickle operation, shut down the pickle plant in Tacoma.

Food industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Nalley's, Inc. (Tacoma); Hoisting machinery;