page_title: Pillsbury Company
section_title: Founding and early development
hierarchical_section_title: Pillsbury Company / History / Founding and early development
caption_attribution_description: Related Work: depicts Pillsbury A Mill, designed by Leroy Sunderland Buffington (American architect, 1848-1931), built 1881 and the Stone Arch Bridge, designed by Charles C. Smith (American engineer, ), built 1882-1883. Work_Description: Published by the Co-Mo Company, Minneapolis. [111052] Culture: American Date: 1919-1928 Measurement Display: 89 mm (height) x 141 mm (width) Classification: Graphic Design and Illustration Work type: postcards Location Notes: Collection of Philip Larson and Ursula A. Larson, Minneapolis Rights: Work in the public domain Image_Filename: 11112630 WorkID: 17441 [depicts works 16619 and 16611]
context_page_description: The Pillsbury Company was a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company that was one of the world's largest producers of grain and other foodstuffs until it was bought by General Mills in 2001. Antitrust law required General Mills to sell off some of the products, so the company kept the rights to refrigerated and frozen Pillsbury branded products, while dry baking products and frosting were sold by its Orrville, Ohio–based Smucker company under license. Brynwood Partners agreed to purchase Pillsbury from Smuckers for $375 million in July 2018. In September 2018 the sale was completed along with other brands including Martha White and Hungry Jack.
  Advertising company Leo Burnett Worldwide created Pillsbury's Doughboy and Jolly Green Giant, which are two of the agency's top brand icons.
context_section_description: "C.A. Pillsbury and Company" was founded in 1872 by Charles Alfred Pillsbury and his uncle John S. Pillsbury. The company was second in the United States (after Washburn-Crosby) to use steel rollers for processing grain. The finished product required transportation, so the Pillsburys assisted in funding railroad development in Minnesota.
  In 1889, Pillsbury and its five mills on the banks of the Mississippi River were purchased by a British company.  The company also tried to purchase and merge with the Washburn Crosby Company (a precursor of General Mills), but the principals at Washburn prevented the takeover.
  In 1923, the Pillsbury family reacquired "Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills Company, Limited" which subsequently was incorporated in 1935 as "Pillsbury Flour Mills Company".
caption: Postcard featuring Pillsbury with the caption, "the Largest Flour Mill in the World, Minneapolis, Minnesota
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