Sensient Technologies history

In 1886, August Bergenthal, William's brother, replaced Niemeier as vice-president of Meadow Springs.

In May 1887, the name of the company was changed to National Distilling Company.

In 1903 the company established a second manufacturing plant on the site of the recently purchased local DuPont Chemical Company facility.

In 1917 the government passed a measure outlawing the use of grains to make liquor, meaning that liquor could be sold but not manufactured.

John Wiedring, the company's laboratory chief, introduced a new process for making yeast by aeration in 1918.

By 1919 the company was threatened by prohibition but by then it had created a business selling yeast under the Red Star Yeast brand.

The company grew rapidly through the remainder of the 1920s.

By 1921, Red Star was operating 50 branches throughout the eastern half of the United States.

Factors leading to this shift in direction included the bottoming out of the gin market in 1935, and a legal quarrel over the use of the National Distilling name waged against the National Distillers Products Corporation of New York.

1937: Red Star exits from the distilling business; yeast and vinegar are now the main products.

In 1938, a policy disagreement led to Bergenthal's resignation.

Charles Wirth, Jr., died of a heart attack in 1950.

The vinegar works that operated there were sold to the Richter Vinegar Company, and, in 1957, the ten-acre plot of land on which it was built was sold to Milwaukee County.

The company went public in 1961, making stock available for the first time to people outside the small circle of founding families and their friends.

1962: Red Star changes its name to Universal Foods Corporation.

In September 1968 Universal was stunned by the murder of Russell Wirth.

In 1977, production began on a line of imitation cheeses.

1979: Rogers Foods, Inc., producer of dehydrated onion and garlic, is acquired.

In 1981, the company bought out one of its longstanding competitors, the Federal Yeast Company, solidifying its position as a major player in the yeast business.

By 1983, three of Universal's five divisions--cheese, beverages, and fermentation--were together accounting for about three-fourths of the company's sales, each providing about a quarter of the total.

1985: Company enters the frozen potato business with the purchase of Idaho Frozen Foods.

In 1990 Universal got out of the cheese business, selling that division to INVUS Group, Ltd., a subsidiary of the Belgian firm R.T. Holding S.A. By that year, under chair and chief executive Guy Osborn, sales had reached over $873 million.

1991: The food, drug, and cosmetic color business of Morton International, Inc. is acquired.

In October of that year, Kenneth P. Manning was promoted to president and CEO of the company, having served as president and COO since 1992.

Osborn continued as chairman only until April 1997 when Manning assumed that position as well.

Also during 1998, Universal sued two former employees for allegedly posting defamatory comments about the company on Internet message boards.

In the first month of 2000, Universal spent $49.4 million to complete two more acquisitions of color companies.

Following this name change, Sensient sold Red Star Yeast in 2001.