CHILLICOTHE, Mo. – Any way you slice it, a small town in Missouri knows where its bread is buttered as the home of the wondrous innovation of sliced bread.
Yes, the “greatest thing since sliced bread” has its origins in Chillicothe, Missouri, in the early 20th century before spreading across the globe.
Otto Rohwedder revolutionized bread. Sounds silly, but Rohwedder’s invention made it easy for bakeries to sell bread to consumers.
Rohwedder was originally a jeweler from Davenport, Iowa; he became interested in the idea of the bread-slicing machine in 1912.
Rohwedder was deeply invested in the concept. He partnered with a factory to help develop his machine and, as the years went by, went through many unsuccessful prototypes and blueprints. A factory fire in late 1917 wiped out the progress he’d made over the years.
With his back against the wall, Rohwedder had to recoup not only from his losses in the fire but also deal with criticism from bakers who thought that the quality of bread would be tarnished through his machine.
By 1926, the rise of the pop-up toaster had begun to spread among American households, and it gave Rohwedder the motivation he needed to finish out the details of his project.
Rohwedder finished his machine in 1927 and was able to connect with an old friend, Frank Bench, who would test the 10-foot-long, multi-bladed bread splitter at his bakery, the Chillicothe Baking Company.
The bread slicer debuted in the bakery in 1928 and quickly became a success. Wonder Bread was one of the first companies to implement Rohwedder’s machine and helped spread the invention throughout American households.
That all changed with the Great Depression and World War II. In an effort to cut costs for the war effort, the U.S. government outlawed pre-sliced bread, forcing everyone to do it themselves again.
Frustration spread from household to household as families struggled to make a perfect cut to their bread. The decision to ban pre-sliced bread was so universally loathed that no one in the U.S. government even wanted to take responsibility for the ban.
The ban was reversed less than one week later, as the concept was deemed too essential to the American household.
As time has gone on, Otto Rohwedder has been highlighted as the founder of sliced bread. Rohwedder went on to sell his patent rights to Micro Westco Company and join their Bakery Machine Division, which was later named after him.
Today, Chillicothe (pop. 9,100) commemorates his invention with a mural that reads “Home of Sliced Bread.”
