Our History

Pillsbury’s Best Makes the Best…

This 1909 Pillsbury calendar recently found a home in the General Mills Archives, donated by Ray Sigurdson. 

Early Ad for Pillsbury

Charles Pillsbury, along with his father George A. Pillsbury, and uncle John S. Pillsbury, purchased an interest in an old rundown Minneapolis flour mill in 1869. Although they had no experience with flour milling, the Pillsburys managed to turn a profit the first year.

Early Rivals: Pillsbury vs. Washburn Crosby

The Pillsbury Company and the Washburn Crosby Company were rivals in and out of the flour milling business before coming together more than 100 years later. Here, Alfred Pillsbury and James Ford Bell, among others, are pictured after a friendly race at the Lafayette Club in 1900.

The Home Bakeshop

Here is a 1992 outline used by the Pillsbury Company to aid with setting up a product display in a grocery store. This helped grocers across the U.S. to showcase all the Pillsbury products needed for shoppers to create their own Home Bakeshop. 

The Life of a Bakery

In 1936, Pillsbury Flour Mills created a Play Bakery Action Book. It showed children of all ages how bread is baked, the machinery bakers used and all the things that must be done for fresh baked foods! Of course, it was just made from cardboard cutouts so children could follow directions or use their imaginations to discover and play in the world of bakeries!  

Gov. Pillsbury’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

This wasn’t the first official Thanksgiving proclamation in the state of Minnesota (that was in 1860), but in 1881, John Sargent Pillsbury, was the governor of Minnesota and proclaimed “In accordance with the recommendation of the President of the United States, I designate Thursday, the 24th day of November to be observed as a day of thanksgiving and praise for the bounties of the season…” The governor was a co-founder of the Pillsbury Company.