The+Crescent+Cracker+and+Macaroni+Company

Original Author: Matt Martenson, A&S195 SP12 Revision Author:
 * The Crescent Cracker and Macaroni Company and the Davenport Warehouse District **

The Crescent Macaroni and Cracker Company building was built between 1915 and 1916 and still stands at 427 Iowa Street in Davenport, Iowa (Svendsen, 9).The company got its start in 1875 when three German immigrants, Hugo Schmidt, Sr., Charles Reupke, and Bernard Schwartzing established the Davenport Steam Bakery in a no longer standing building on 4th street (26). As the years went by, business increased and the group was reestablished as the Roddewig-Schmidt Cracker Company after Schmidt and Roddewig bought out the investments of the other partners (26). Schmidt and Roddewig partnered with Jacob and Joseph Loose and after merging with the National Biscuit Company in 1898, the Crescent Macaroni and Cracker Company was founded (27). The Crescent Macaroni and Cracker factory was hailed as “the largest macaroni factory in the world” in 1904 and was the only macaroni factory in Iowa at the time (Daily Times, 1904). The Crescent factory was a five story building with a basement for storage and production of various kinds happening on each subsequent floor (Svendsen, 10). The company utilized their hulking vertical building as a gravity system that, according to a 1936 newspaper article, brought processed goods “high above the dust and fly line” and “minimize[d] production costs [while] eliminating wasted time to the shipping rooms” (27).The first floor operated as a shipping center while floors two through five were dedicated to macaroni production, cookie and cracker packaging, dough preparation, and baking (10-11). During the early 20th century The Crescent factory supplied food, raw materials, sweets, and numerous jobs to Davenport and its neighbors.During World War I the company was a major supplier of food and shipped to seven different states and actually produced military rations in the form of corn cakes (28). At its peak the company employed 30-40 travelling salesmen and 200 workers; more than two-thirds of them women (28). During the Great Depression era the city of Davenport averted some very tough times because of factories like the Crescent Macaroni and Cracker factory. During this span of time the Tri-Cities suffered, however Davenport still brought in $50 million dollars because of wholesalers and manufacturers (30). The Crescent Macaroni and Cracker Company had several staples which set them apart from their competition. The company marketed fast cooking “Macronets” and egg noodles that could be cooked in just five minutes (28). The company also produced free cookbooks for consumers that further advertised their products while provided easy, convenient recipes for the busy households of the time. Other staples included Tom Thumb Soda Crackers, Hawk-eye Soda Crackers, Lindy Cookies (in honor of Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic), and the H.J. Health Cooking, which was later pulled from production because of objection from the government over health claims (29). Despite the seeming setback of the government ruling the health claims for a product were unsubstantiated, the Crescent Company was well-known for its commitment to quality of its product and cleanliness of its facilities. In an article of the Daily Times, the company’s good were said to “excel in quality and cleanliness” and were “superior in quality to any of the imported brands” (Daily Times, 1904). The management at the time held the position that “nothing is too good when it comes to things that people eat” and that “you can’t make good goods, out of poor materials” (Iowa Factories, 1914). Management took pride in the fact that the factory walls were kept white, floors were swept and scrubbed, and signs hung virtually everywhere with the saying “Help Us Keep Our Factory Clean” (Iowa Factories, 1914). These slogans and phrases were not limited to the factory however. The Crescent Macaroni and Cracker Company used many creative marketing strategies to ensure that the public thought of them for their food needs. The image of a crescent moon and star was printed on each package that was sold in grocers and the public came to know this symbol as synonymous with quality (Svendsen 70). The slogan “cookies like mom used to make” ensured that the Crescent company was not an impersonal corporate entity, but rather nearly a member of the extended family (70). This familial bond was not just evident in their advertising choices but in the way that the Crescent Company treated it’s workers. An annual event for many years for the workers was a summer family picnic in which the picnickers would don paper hats and walk to the levee to board an excursion boat that would take them to Campbell’s Island or a location further downstream (Svendsen 137). From an advertisement in the 1914 Davenport city directory, a sketch of a billboard for Tom Thumb Soda Crackers is showcased with a quote reading “There’s a quality and goodness—a crispy tastiness—in Tom Thumb Sodas which __makes__ you like them – //Tom Thumb//” (1914). From this same directory a two other advertisements are featured; one reading “Everything is pure and good that comes from the Crescent Factory” and the other reading “Tom Thumb Sodas: The Clean, Appetizing, Quality Crackers” (P. 125, 45). It’s evident that throughout their marketing campaign the Crescent Company worked hard to present themselves as a clean, quality solution for their customers. The Crescent Macaroni and Cracker Company was not the only distribution and manufacturing company in the area at this time. The Halligan brothers; John, Thomas, and Jim, were Irish immigrants that ran three business in the warehouse district near the Crescent factory from 1907 (Svendsen 2003). John Halligan operated a coal manufacturing company, Jim ran Halligan’s Funeral Home, and Thomas ran Halligan’s Coffee Company which had a building on 4th street (Svendsen 2003). An advertisement from the three brothers read “Wake up with Thomas Halligan’s coffee, keep warm with John Halligan’s coal, and be laid to rest by Jim Halligan’s funeral home” (Svendsen 2003). Also in the area was another of the Crescent founder’s creations the Roddewig and Schmidt Candy Company which established a building to the northwest (Svendsen 2003). The Crescent factory received an update in the 1960s when new, larger ovens were installed on the 4th floor and spaghetti and macaroni making was discontinued (Svendsen29). When these products were discontinued the company set its sights on expanding dough prep, coating, packing, and storage in these newly vacant areas. The growing modernization of this once iconic factory rendered the operation inefficient and unproductive and in 1991the factory closed down, sold its baking equipment, and the building was converted to warehouse use (Svendsen 29). The factory sat vacant, as did several of the once thriving businesses in Davenport’s warehouse district, for several years. In 2003, The Alexander Company renovated the former factory and converted the “big daylight factory” into loft apartments calling the dwellings “Crescent Lofts” (Svendsen 29; CrescentLofts.com). Though the Crescent Macaroni and Cracker Company is no longer operating the name is carried on through newly renovated industrial loft apartments and if driving downtown one can still see the iconic crescent moon and star logo printed at the top of this once great piece of the Quad Cities.

**Works Cited ** //Crescent Lofts Apartments //.Web. 8 April 2012.  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Davenport City Directory. 1914. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Davenport City Directory. 1915. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Svendsen, Marlys A. “Crescent Warehouse Historic District”. Davenport: National Register of Historic Places, May 2003. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Svendsen,Marlys A.//Davenport: apictoral history (1836-1986)//.Davenport: G. Bradley Publishing Inc., 1985. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">“The Crescent Macaroni & Cracker Company.”__Iowa Factories__, July 1914. P. 3. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">“The Largest Macaroni Factory in the World”.//Daily Times.//10 Dec. 1904. P. 34.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Return to Food <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Return to Home