Indian Packing Company
{{Short description|Defunct US meat packing company}}
{{good article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Indian Packing Company
| logo = Indian_Packing_Ad_1919.png
| alt = An old newspaper ad for Council Meats
| industry = Canned meat
| successor = Acme Packing Company
| founded = {{Start date|1919|07|22}} in Delaware, US
| defunct = {{End date|1921}}
| key_people = {{Ubl|Curly Lambeau||Frank Jonet|Wally Ladrow|Frank Peck}}
}}
The Indian Packing Company was an American canned meat company that operated between 1919 and 1921. It was founded in Delaware and had various facilities across the country, including Green Bay, Wisconsin. It was purchased by the Acme Packing Company, which shut down in 1943 due to supply shortages related to World War II. The company had a connection to the founding of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Curly Lambeau, one of the co-founders of the Packers, worked as a shipping clerk in 1919 for the Indian Packing Company. In return for use of the company's athletic field and money for sports equipment, the team took on the name "Packers". Although the company quickly faded from history, its name stuck with the team and is still in use today.
History
The Indian Packing Company was formed in Delaware and legally organized on July 22, 1919. Earlier that year, a patent for "Council Meats, A Market on Your Pantry Shelf" was granted to the company.{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gKCXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA480 | title = Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office - Prints | publisher = United States Patent Office | date = May 20, 1919 | access-date = October 9, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160505155017/https://books.google.com/books?id=gKCXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA480 | archive-date = May 5, 2016 | url-status = live | via = Google Books }} Indian Packing operated multiple packing plants in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Rhode Island.{{cite news| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945217/providence_packing_plant_merged_in/ | title = Providence Packing Plant Merged in Illinois Concern | date = January 11, 1921 | page = 9 | newspaper = The Boston Globe | url-status = live | archive-date = October 9, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191009212214/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945217/providence_packing_plant_merged_in/ | via = Newspapers.com | access-date = October 9, 2019}} The plants were known to be modern for that era. The company was well known for its Council Meats brand, which was well-advertised.{{Cite news | url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945522/indian_packing_co_council_meats_ad/ | title = Council Meats | date = August 10, 1919 | access-date = December 17, 2024 | newspaper = The Butte Miner | type = clipping | via = Newspapers.com | page = 19 | archive-date = October 9, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191009161109/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945522/indian_packing_co_council_meats_ad/ | url-status = live }}
Merger with Acme Packing
In December 1920, it was announced that the Acme Packing Company acquired all of the assets of the Indian Packing Company, subject to approval by the shareholders of the Indian Packing Company. At the time, no additional details were provided by company president Frank Peck, although an audit of financial records was ongoing.{{cite news| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36944386/chicago_packers_to_take_indian_plants/ | title = Chicago Packers to Take Indian Plants; Peck Confirms Deal | date = December 22, 1920 | page = 1 | newspaper = Green Bay Press-Gazette | url-status = live | archive-date = October 9, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191009211748/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36944386/chicago_packers_to_take_indian_plants/ | via = Newspapers.com | access-date = October 9, 2019}} The merger of the two firms was finalized in January 1921, with Acme Packing Company being valued at $12 million {{USDCY|12000000|1921}}.{{cite news| title = Acme Packers Absorb Another Firm | newspaper = The New York Times | date = January 11, 1921 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/01/11/103532735.pdf | access-date = October 9, 2019 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191009202447/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/01/11/103532735.pdf | archive-date = October 9, 2019}} Acme's president, C. E. Martin, took over as the president of the merged company, with the expectation that the merger would save a significant amount of money. Almost all of the staff of Indian Packing Company retired at the merger.{{cite journal| title = Two Meat Packing Companies Merged | year = 1921 | volume = 16 | journal = The American Food Journal | issn = 0193-1792 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xhHnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA41 | page = 41 | access-date = August 21, 2015 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191009202333/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xhHnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA41#v=onepage&q&f=false | archive-date = October 9, 2019 | via = Google Books }} In 1943, during World War II, Acme Packing Company closed, as did many other meat packing companies.{{cite news| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36944539/seattle_meat_packers_close/ | agency = Associated Press | title = Seattle Meat Packers Close | date = June 16, 1943 | page = 2 | newspaper = Arizona Republic | url-status = live | archive-date = October 9, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191009202046/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36944539/seattle_meat_packers_close/ | via = Newspapers.com | access-date = October 9, 2019}}
Green Bay Packers
File:Greenbay packers 1921.jpg wearing their Acme Packers jerseys.|alt=Black and white photo of football players standing in uniform.]]
In 1919, Curly Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun worked together to form a local football team in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Lambeau, who had recently started a job as a shipping clerk for the Indian Packing Company, reached out to his employer, Frank Peck, for funding to support the new team.{{cite news| last = Daley | first = Arthur | author-link = Arthur Daley (sportswriter) | url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945718/curly_lambeau_buzzard_who_fathered/ | title = Curly Lambeau: 'Buzzard' Who Fathered Packers | date = October 1, 1963 | page = 74 | newspaper = Philadelphia Daily News | url-status = live | archive-date = October 9, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191009211821/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945718/curly_lambeau_buzzard_who_fathered/ | via = Newspapers.com | access-date = October 9, 2019}}{{cite web|title=A founding figure behind the scenes|url=http://archive.jsonline.com/sports/packers/32475079.html/|date=October 2, 2008|last=Hendricks|first=Martin|access-date=July 27, 2018|newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803194511/http://archive.jsonline.com/sports/packers/32475079.html/|archive-date=August 3, 2018|url-status=live}} The company put up funding to purchase equipment and allowed the team to use a field next to the packing plant for practices.{{cite news| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945652/packers_the_first_45_years/ | title = Packers: The First 45 Years | date = August 8, 1993 | page = 208 | newspaper = Green Bay Press-Gazette | url-status = live | archive-date = October 9, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191009211934/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945652/packers_the_first_45_years/ | via = Newspapers.com | access-date = October 9, 2019}} The team entered the American Professional Football Association, the precursor to the National Football League (NFL), in 1921, with John and Emmett Clair of the Acme Packing Company (which was now in control after the merger with Indian Packing) being granted the franchise. Acme lost the franchise after the team fielded collegiate players under assumed names. Lambeau saved up enough money to have the franchise reinstated under his control.{{cite web| url = https://www.packers.com/history/birth_of_a_team_and_a_legend/ | access-date = October 9, 2019 | title = Birth of a Team and a Legend | publisher = Green Bay Packers, Inc. | url-status = dead | archive-date = March 28, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100328092026/https://www.packers.com/history/birth_of_a_team_and_a_legend/}} With their meat packing roots, the team became known as the "Packers". Even though other nicknames, such as the Bays, the Indians, and the Blues, were used, the "Packers" ended up sticking.{{Cite news | url = http://archive.jsonline.com/sports/packers/46741862.html/ | title = A name 90 years in the making | last = Hendricks | first = Martin | date = June 3, 2009 | access-date = December 17, 2024 | newspaper = Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | archive-date = August 1, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180801221149/http://archive.jsonline.com/sports/packers/46741862.html/ | url-status = live }} Frank Jonet, who served as the secretary-treasurer of the Packers for many years, worked for Acme Packing prior to his association with the Packers.{{cite news| last = Dougherty | first = Pete | url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945477/jonet_built_packers_financial/ | title = Jonet built Packers' financial framework: part 2 | date = July 19, 2011 | page = 16 | newspaper = Green Bay Press-Gazette | url-status = live | archive-date = October 9, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191009212040/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945477/jonet_built_packers_financial/ | via = Newspapers.com | access-date = October 9, 2019}} Wally Ladrow, who played with Lambeau on the original Packers teams, also worked for Indian Packing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.packers.com/news/what-was-acme-packing-s-role-in-forming-packers-14285346|website=Packers.com|title=What was Acme Packing's role in forming Packers? |date=November 20, 2014|author=Christl, Cliff|author-link=Cliff Christl|access-date=February 25, 2025}}
In 2000, PETA called for the Packers to change their name due to its association with the packaging and consumption of meat.{{cite news| last = Barreiro | first = Dan | url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945164/peta_picking_on_packers/ | title = PETA picking on Packers | date = July 4, 2000 | page = 49 | newspaper = The Daily Oklahoman | url-status = live | archive-date = October 9, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191009201926/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36945164/peta_picking_on_packers/ | via = Newspapers.com | access-date = October 9, 2019}} The historic meat packing plants are now identified as part of the Packers Heritage Trail.{{Cite web | url = https://www.packershofandtours.com/explore/heritage-trail/trail-sites | website = PackersHoFandTours.com | access-date = April 23, 2024 | title = Packers Heritage Trail Map | archive-date = March 5, 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240305010722/https://www.packershofandtours.com/explore/heritage-trail/trail-sites | url-status = live }}