King Arthur Baking history

A more bountiful wheat supply, along with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, made it possible for Henry Wood & Company to stop its English wheat imports and begin selling American-milled flour.

In 1838 Henry Wood and a partner, George J. Cook, bought a flour company named Richards and Co.

1840: John Low Sands joins Richards and Co. as a flour salesman.

And in 1849, The French Bakery became the first shop in San Francisco offering sourdough bread for sale.

But its first actual appearance was in Harper's Bazaar magazine, which published a rudimentary recipe in 1886.

When famine spread throughout Russia in 1891, demand drove wheat prices up and standards of quality deteriorated.

By 1895, the company was named Sands, Taylor, & Wood.

More than 100 years later in 1896, the company Wood founded gave its product a new brand name—King Arthur Flour.

The company--renamed Sands, Taylor & Wood Co. (ST & W)--was incorporated on July 1, 1904, and kept that name for 95 years.

But it wasn't considered "takeout" until 1905, when Gennaro Lombardi began selling pizza out of his New York City grocery store — thus establishing America's first pizzeria.

1917: Frank Edgar Sands is named ST & W president.

In 1927, for example, Walter E. Sands brought the logo to life by designing a calliope that served as a base for a large three-dimensional structure of King Arthur (below). Sands drove the calliope around the streets of Boston and New York in his own pickup truck.

That most ubiquitous of quick breads, banana bread, first appeared on the American scene in 1930 not to showcase bananas — but thanks to the increasing availability of commercial baking powder and baking soda.

A landmark moment in cookie history took place in 1933 when Ruth Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, added chopped chocolate to her sugar cookie recipe in an attempt to create a chocolate cookie.

1944--66: More Inhibiting Legislation, Continuing Decline of Flour Sales

The Sands, Taylor & Wood Company proudly displayed mentions of King Arthur Flour and other products everywhere possible, including on company vehicles, as seen in a 1957 photograph at the company’s Massachusetts headquarters.

By 1963 ST & W held only six percent market share but upheld its high standards of quality even when it became necessary to notify customers that shortages of quality wheat prevented the company from filling any more orders.

1967 and Beyond: Expansion and Restructure

After a mid-century expansion, by 1968 King Arthur had become New England's largest bakery supply distributor, offering virtually every ingredient used by professional bakers, from pie fillings to flavorings to ice cream toppings.

One of the first and most popular recipes for zucchini bread appeared in Beard on Bread in 1973.

In 1984 Frank relocated company headquarters to Norwich, Vermont.

Tired of lugging bags of flour to the post office to mail to retirees in Florida who couldn't buy King Arthur outside of New England, Brinna started The Baker's Catalogue in 1990.

In 1992 ST & W opened the King Arthur Flour Baker's Store in Norwich, offering all the items in the mail-order catalog as well as locally produced teas, jams, and other Vermont specialties.

In 1993 ST & W introduced a white whole-wheat flour made from a new variety of hard white winter wheat.

Christmas Day 1996 marked the launch of the company's first website, showcasing 13 recipes, an invitation to "sign our guest book," and information on our four different flours.

As the company and its following grew, in 1998 King Arthur Flour established a second location, Avalon, in nearby Hartford, Vermont, for customer service, fulfillment, and product development.

By 1999, the company officially changed its name to King Arthur Flour, and the Baker's Catalogue was mailing six million catalogues per year.

In 2000, the Bakery and Baking Education Center opened next door to Camelot.

Avalon underwent an expansion in 2004 to accommodate the company’s growing workforce.

In 2007, King Arthur Flour was a founding and certified B Corp.

In 2010, King Arthur Flour launched its award-winning line of gluten-free baking mixes; its Life Skills Bread Baking Program taught its 120,000th student; and Baking Education Center classes reached more than 4,600 bakers.