July 10

On Tuesday, we decided to run over to Austin to visit the Spam Museum. George Hormel was a German immigrant who started a meat packing company in 1891. He was quite forward thinking for a meat packer, an industry where making sausage was actually creating  a new “product”. His son Jay C. had more marketing interest, and Hormel grew and prospered through the Depression. Hormel was the first meat packer to offer a year around wage package, giving workers knowledge that they would have a steady income for the year. One of his innovations was Hormel “Dairy” brand canned meats. Dairy, because Hormel’s Hogs came from southern MN where the farmers fed their stock better quality feed which reportedly included milk.

When Jay came up with the idea of a canned, spiced, pork shoulder and ham lunchmeat, he held a contest in town to name it, and Spam was chosen. WWll came, & Spam production was diverted to feed the troops overseas. The methods and the recipe was given by our govt. to other canners who produced supposedly the same product. So the Spam our soldiers complained about, was not always Hormel’s product! Regardless of the complaints, there was always a supply of Spam for the soldier, a great source of protein. After the war, Jay hired BBDO, the big NY ad agency to promote Hormel’s products. He launched the “Hormel Girls”, and began radio advertising on Geo. Burns and Gracie Allen’s show.

The museum offered a self-guided, tongue in cheek, humorous walk through the Hormel family, as well as the company’s history, heavy on the Spam. Geo. walked away from the company he founded and moved to Bel-Air CA, mostly for health reasons before the war . He and his wife wanted to do something for the young women of Austin, so they gave their fine home to the YWCA, who used it for years. When it became impossible to continue use for that purpose due to laws and regulations, the YWCA gave it back to the town for restoration.

The home is in fine condition, and to tour it is to tour my grandmother’s home. This house was built in 1871, remodeled in 1927 after the Hormel’s bought it, and was used by Geo. and his wife to entertain guests, both business and social. They regularly held shareholder meetings there! The house was very relaxed. We were encouraged to wander around at our leisure and pickup and handle most of the furnishings. They added a conference/reception center on the back of the house in 2009, which helps to support the operation of the house, and keep it open. Altogether a neat experience.