Jiffy Jell

The year 1916 witnessed an interesting new item being developed and marketed from Waukesha, Jiffy Jell. As the invention of two brothers, Otis and Fred Glidden, Jiffy Jell was similar to the modern, internationally distributed product called Jell-O.

It all began around 1900 when Otis Glidden started a promising research career in the gelatin dessert business. He developed a procedure to concentrate the flavors of various fruits and preserve what he called "the true fruit essence" within small glass vials. Alcohol was used as a preservative.

Otis and his brother Fred left New York and arrived in Waukesha with plans to market their new product. The two formed the Waukesha Pure Food Company and built a production plant on Elizabeth Street. It wasn't long before the new Jiffy Jell Product was ready for sale.

The plant opened in 1916, and it’s product was an instant success generating a good deal of revenue. At the outbreak of World War I, the Pure Foods Company even sent a box car filled with Jiffy Jell to France.  The Glidden brothers are also credited as being the inventors of what is now called the "coffee break".

At 10:00 am and 3:00 P.M. each day, employees of the Pure Foods Company enjoyed a short break and snack time as refreshment carts bearing coffee, soft drinks, sweet rolls and various other condiments were circulated among the lines. So revolutionary was the coffee break that reporters arrived in Waukesha to write articles about it.

Unfortunately for the Pure Foods Company, the 18th amendment to the US Constitution was passed on January 16, 1919. Prohibition, as it was called, made the use of Alcohol for a preservative - or anything else for that matter - illegal. As a result, the Glidden brothers scrambled to find a substitute for the Alcohol preservative in their Jiffy Jell. Some chemists from Chicago discovered the desperately needed substitute, and it appeared that the Pure Foods Company was back in business. Fate, however, interjected and the Alcohol substitute began to turn bad and explode in the stores.

In 1921, the Glidden brothers sold their company and the Jiffy Jell formulas to the Genesee Pure Food Company, which would later market a product called "Jell-O".

Otis Glidden went on to found the Edna Wallace Hopper Cosmetic Company on Barstow Street. He eventually moved to Chicago.

The Pure Foods Company, during its existence, was known for being revolutionary in many aspects. Not just for its coffee breaks or remarkably innovative products, but also for its production standards and employee benefits. At one point the business was described as "America's Model Food Plant." The building stands still today (with a few additions), and though the Glidden brothers suffered many setbacks here in Waukesha, their achievements stand as a reminder of the inventive spirit.