Forest City Wholesale Grocery Company Records (Rockford)

Mr. O. L. Fredricksen and Mr. Gust Anderson organized the Forest City Wholesale Grocery Company of Rockford, Illinois in 1902.  Five years later, the company incorporated and Anderson, J. G. Sherman, and Fredricksen served as president, vice president, and secretary--treasurer, respectively.  Around 1909, the firm corstructed a new storage facility with approximately 30,000 feet of Cloor space at 725 Seventh Street in Rockford.   After fifteen years of operation, Fredricksen and Anderson sold the firm to A. W. Wheelock in 1917 but continued their ownership of the property.  Mr. Wheelock needed an experienced manager to run the business and recruited Homer Z. Webster of Madison, Wisconsin to manage the company.  In 1928, Webster purchased the business and hired his son, Scott, as a warehouseman in 1934.  Twelve years later, after working as a salesman, buyer, and treasurer of the company, Scott Webster became the firm’s president, serving until 1966.   By the 1940’s, the firm required a larger storage and distribution center and purchased the Green Brothers Box Company Plant in 1949 at a cost of $60,000.  The new warehouse and buildings provided about 50,000 square feet of floor space with a newly designed conveyer system for greater efficiency in movement of goods.  In addition, the new facilities provided easier servicing of Forest City’s cash and carry wholesale houses in Rockford, Freeport, Sterling, and DeKalb, Illinois     After sixty-four years of independent operation, the company sold its assets to Consolidated Foods Corporation in 1966.  Besides retaining its personnel and cash and carry wholesale business, Forest City established beauty aids and fresh produce services as part of Consolidated’s expansion program.  Forest City Wholesale remained part of Consolidated Foods until the firm’s directors and stockholders permanently dissolved the company in 1974.

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