page_title: General Mills
section_title: Founding
hierarchical_section_title: General Mills / History / Founding
caption_attribution_description: English: Washburn Crosby Company postcard from around 1900.
context_page_description: General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. It is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Often nicknamed "Big G", the company markets many well-known North American brands, including Gold Medal flour, Annie's Homegrown, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totino's, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Häagen-Dazs, Cheerios, Trix, Cocoa Puffs, and Lucky Charms. Its brand portfolio includes more than 89 other leading U.S. brands and numerous category leaders around the world.
context_section_description: General Mills itself was created in June 1928 when Washburn-Crosby President James Ford Bell merged Washburn-Crosby with three other mills.
  In 1928, General Mills acquired the Wichita Mill and Elevator Company of the industrialist Frank Kell of Wichita Falls, Texas. With the sale, Kell acquired cash plus stock in the corporation.
  The newly merged company paid a dividend in 1928, and has continued the dividend uninterrupted since then–one of only a few companies to pay a dividend every year since then.
caption: Postcard image of the Gold Medal Flour factory in Minneapolis around 1900
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