Edwin Perkins: The Man Who Created Kool-Aid

Kool-Aid has been a household name for generations. It makes a nice, cold, quick, drink for those hot summer days when the kids are out playing and become thirsty. It is so affordable that families on even the tightest of budgets can afford it. We all know what it is, but not many know how it came to be.

Kool-Aid was born in Hastings, Nebraska, to a man by the name of Edwin Perkins, in the year 1927. Although Kool-Aid was born in 1927, it did not reach the trade market until the following year, in 1928.

To better understand the history of Kool-Aid, we must look at the life of its creator, Edwin Perkins. To look into his life is to look into the life of a man with a pure entrepreneurial spirit who was not afraid to work hard and follow his dreams. You see, Kool-Aid was not the first product created by Edwin Perkins.

Edwin Perkins was born in Lewis, Iowa on January 8, 1889. In 1893, the Perkins family sold their general store and moved to Furnas County, Nebraska to live on a farm. Their home was a three-room sod house. It had wooden floors and calcimined walls which distinguished this home from other sod-houses at that time. They had to haul water to their house from a well that was a mile away, and when the kids went to school, they had to walk three miles across a prairie to attend class in a one-room schoolhouse.

The 1890's were hard times in Nebraska. Many families had to rely on the help from Aid Societies from the East to survive. The Perkins' were fortunate enough to be able to survive without any help. This was possible because of the money they saved from the general store sale, and also because of the combined effort and hard work of the Perkins family.

Edwin's father worked long hours in the fields. He tended crops, kept up the garden, cared for milk cows, and built up a herd of pedigrees Poland China pigs. Edwin's mother raised poultry, made butter and cheese, and every Saturday, she would load up the kids into her buggy, harness the horse, and drive ten miles to Beaver City to make rounds selling butter and eggs to customers that were willing to pay in cash. With all the work the family had to do just to survive, there was very little time for leisurely activities.

In 1900, the Perkins family traded the farm for a general store in the village of Hendley, Nebraska so that the children would be closer to the schools. After being in the general store for five years, Edwin's father was able to build a new building for the store. This store building was a frame building and has a sign that read, "D.M. Perkins General Merchandise". This is the store in which Edwin's entrepreneurial ideas began to really come to life.

At the age of eleven, Edwin would work in his father's general store as a clerk after school. A family friend had bought a new dessert while on a shopping trip in Hastings, Nebraska and took it into the store to show the Perkins family. This pre-packaged, powered dessert mix that came in six different flavors was called Jell-O. This product and its variety of flavors is what Edwin Perkins said influenced his decision to join the pre-packaged food business.

As if a sign telling him to pursue his pre-packaged food dreams, Edwin saw an advertisement in a magazine in his father's store. The advertisement read, "Be a manufacturer--Mixer's Guide tells how--write today." Edwin sent for the information and also for formulas and labels with his name printed on them. Edwin Perkins was 12 or 13 years old at this time, and with his new formulas in hand, he spent many hours in his mother's kitchen making concoctions that were recommended in his information packet.

Along with learning how to make different things, Edwin also learned that there were many sales opportunities available where people could buy merchandise from wholesalers and manufacturers and sell the items door-to-door to make money. Not long after learning this, Edwin bought a small hand printing press and rubber-stamp making equipment. This enables him to do his own printing. For the first four years after he graduated from high-school, Edwin put his printing equipment to use publishing the local weekly newspaper which was called the Hendley Delphic, and doing many job-printing orders including printing his own product labels.

Edwin was also the village postmaster during that time. He used the backroom of the post office to set up and use his printing equipment and set up a mail order business for his products. His business increased so rapidly that the post office rating changed from "cancellation" basis, meaning the office was in danger of having to close, to the rating of a respectable salaried classification.

With the chemical set Edwin had, he made such things as perfumes and medications. He sold these items through sales agents that he would entrust to take the product, sell it, bring him back the money, and collect their pay from him then. This practice was known as a "trust scheme".

In 1918, at the age of 29, Edwin Perkins created a remedy for the tobacco habit. The product helped to rid a person of the dependency of tobacco from several different angels. It was made of herbs to be chewed, herbal tablets to swallow, and a horrible-tasting mouthwash that contained silver nitrate and a strong herbal laxative. This product, "Nix-O-Tine Tobacco Remedy" was guaranteed to work for those who stuck with the program. Edwin's tobacco remedy was very popular with veterans who returned from World War I. The sales of this product soared.

In September 1918, Edwin married his long-time sweetheart, Kathryn M. Shoemaker. She was the daughter of Hendley's only doctor. Edwin and Kitty, as she liked to be called, were quite inseparable, though when it came to matters of his business, she always remained in the background and never interfered. The couple was perfect for each other.

On Valentine's Day in 1920, Edwin and Kitty moved to Hastings, Nebraska which is approximately eighty miles east of Hendley. The location of Hastings provided Edwin better access to the railroads and highways, and also offered him more room for his business to grow. Even though Hastings offered so much to the Perkins', it was not their first choice of places to move. Until Edwin began to suffer from bleeding ulcers, they were packed and ready to move to California. After Edwin was released from the hospital, he made the decision to remain in Nebraska to be near his family and also to maintain a centralized location for his mail order business.

In Hastings, Edwin and Kitty rented a place to live that was 22x60 feet in size. For six months, they lived out of the back room and used the front to make their products. They used a cook stove for heat that was fueled by coal that they hoisted up from the alley below with a bucket and a rope that they kept stored in the closet.

After living in Hastings for six months, they purchased a small bungalow. By August of 1920, the rest of the Perkins family also moved to Hastings. The small bungalow that Edwin and Kitty bought still stands today.

In the summer of 1921, Edwin traveled to St. Louis, Missouri for a month to learn more about the household products business. While there, he worked with a small firm that contracted to make bulk orders. He studied their production and distribution methods so he could take that knowledge back with him to Hastings. One year later, Edwin Perkins prepared to release his very own "Onor-made" product line. During the year Edwin spent preparing, his entire family was able to live off of the money that was made from the sales of his "Nix-O-Tine Tobacco Remedy".

In April of 1922, the company moved again. This time to the second floor of A.H. Mansfield's building located in downtown Hastings. While at this location, Edwin hired his very first chemist, a local man with only a 7^th grade education but many natural abilities, named Orval Adcock.

To sell his new household products, Edwin set up a nationwide system of representatives. The people would sell door-to-door from sample cases that Edwin provided for them to use. In the meantime, Edwin continues to sell his tobacco remedy and other products through the mail using a direct mail system and mailing lists that he bought.

In September 1922, the first Onor-Made order came in. Before much longer, Perkins Products was manufacturing and selling over 125 different items. He sold everything from cold creams and medications to soap and salve, and even jelly making products and fruit drink concentrates. Edwin sold so much that within the first year; Perkins Products outgrew their building and had to move once again. The move wasn't far at all; Edwin moved his business one door to the east. This building was purchased at a sheriff's sale, by Edwin in March of 1923. This was the site of Edwin's first factory.

That summer, the most popular item turned out to be Edwin's fruit drink concentrate. Fruit-Smack was a four ounce bottle of liquid, that when mixed with water made a great fruit drink for all. One four ounce bottle made an entire pitcher full, and it was available in six different flavors. This drink came out at approximately the same time that Coca-Cola hit the market. The only problem with the Fruit-Smack product was shipping it. The bottles were glass, so it cost more to ship them, and often the bottles would be broken or leaking when they arrived to the customer.

This problem led Edwin to try to find a way to dehydrate the liquid, package it in an envelope and ship it that way. After many trials and errors, Edwin found the right mixture, and the right materials for the envelopes. Edwin missed the opportunity to introduce this new product to the general public in 1927; so, he spent that time introducing it to his family and employees. In 1928, Kool-Aid was introduced to the trade market.

By the year 1931, Edwin's business was going so well that he moved the Kool-Aid portion of it to Chicago. This move was made to ease distribution and to have closer access to supplies that were needed. Edwin, Kitty, and a few of the employees moved to Chicago while the rest of his family and the rest of the employees remained in Hastings to oversee the factory there.

On February 16, 1953, Edwin Perkins called all of his employees together to tell them that on May 15, 1953, the Perkins Products would be taken over by General Foods. He recanted the history of it all, including how his impression of the six different flavors of Jell-O was his starting point. He explained to all of his employees that by selling when he did, he was trying to help ensure that they all had jobs for many years to come. Had he not sold, the price of the inheritance taxes alone would have bankrupted the business and left the employees without jobs. Edwin knew it was time to move on and sell his business, and he did just that. The owners may have changed, but the products remained the same.

Edwin Perkins died in 1961 in Rochester, Minnesota, after enduring a long illness. After a battle to how his estate should be settled, Kitty took over with the philanthropies. She lived another sixteen years, and died on March 27, 1977 while in Chicago. Both Edwin and Kitty Perkins are buried in Parkview Cemetery in Hastings, Nebraska.

Edwin Perkins did a great many things throughout his life. Many of the products he created are only a memory, but one product can still be found around the world today. Kool-Aid continues to be a favorite drink among many.

Now, the next time you see the commercials, or the next time you drink a glass, remember, Kool-Aid began as a dream in the mind of an eleven year old. A kid, if you will who had big dreams and was not afraid to pursue them.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.hastingsmuseum.org

http://www.adamshistory.org

and my own personal visit to the Hastings Museum in Hastings, Nebraska