The Calumet Baking Powder Company was an American food company established in 1889 in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, by William Monroe Wright to manufacture

baking powder Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid. The base and acid are prevented from reacting prematurely by the inclusion of a buffer such as cornstarch. Baking powder is used to increas ...

. Calumet operated independently until it was acquired by

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by C. W. Post, Charles William (C. W.) Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, a ...

in 1929. , Calumet is a

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

owned by

Kraft Heinz The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), commonly known as Kraft Heinz (), is an American multinational food company formed by the merger of Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and the H.J. Heinz Company co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh. Kraft Heinz is t ...

whose baking powder is produced by its

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

division.

Overview

Wright's newly formulated double-acting

took its name from the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

-derived, colonial-era word for a Native American

ceremonial pipe A ceremonial pipe is a particular type of smoking pipe (tobacco), smoking pipe, used by a number of cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in their sacred ceremonies. Traditionally they are used to offer prayers in a religious ceremo ...

, given to the lands now known as

Calumet City, Illinois Calumet City ( ) is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 36,033 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. History Calumet City (commonly referred to locally as "Cal City") was founded in 1893 ...

. Wright's company adopted a stylized

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

wearing a

war bonnet file:Native American PowWow 9488.jpg, A modern-day Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, dog soldier wearing a feathered headdress during a pow wow at the Indian Summer festival in Henry Maier Festival Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 2008 War bonnets (also called ...

as its trademark. The new baking powder formula replaced cream of tartar with aluminum phosphate and also included dried egg whites. This formula was created by Wright with the help of chemist George Campbell Rew. In 1929, William Wright sold out to

and the "Calumet" baking powder became one of its many name brands. Wright, a fan of

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

, would use his wealth to build what would become a world-renowned

horse breeding Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given Horse breed, breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired chara ...

and training operation in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

, which he named

Calumet Farm Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of the Bluegrass ...

. It was later run by his son, Warren Wright. General Foods merged into Kraft Foods Inc. in 1990 and Calumet was added to the Kraft Foods' brand portfolio. Cans of Calumet Baking Powder were used as props in the larder scenes of the 1980 film, '' The Shining''. This detail is noted early in the 2012 documentary ''

Room 237 ''Room 237'' is a 2012 American documentary film directed by Rodney Ascher about interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's film '' The Shining'' (1980) which was adapted from the 1977 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The documentary includes ...

'', as the catalyst for Bill Blakemore's theory that the film is an allegory for the mass dying of Native Americans following European colonization.

References

External links

* 1889 establishments in Illinois 1929 disestablishments in Illinois Baking powder American companies established in 1889 Food and drink companies disestablished in 1929 Food and drink companies based in Chicago Food manufacturers of the United States Kraft Foods brands Defunct manufacturing companies based in Chicago Food and drink companies established in 1889 General Foods {{US-manufacturing-company-stub