Michigan’s Chicory Coffee Boom — 1860-1940

Описание: In the early 1900s, Michigan farmers raised a crop most people never connect to this state: chicory. In this Michigan Moments episode, we track how a roasted root became a national coffee add-in — and how the business depended on railroads, contract farming, and small-city factories.

Our evidence starts with a postcard view labeled “Chicory Plant, Bad Axe, Mich.” A steam locomotive sits on the tracks in front of an industrial mill, with piles of roots stacked nearby. That one image shows a full supply chain in miniature: harvest in the Thumb, processing near the tracks, and shipment as freight.

We pair that postcard with period print ads from E. B. Muller & Co. of Port Huron. The ads sell chicory as thrift and taste at the same time: mix it with coffee, they said, and your coffee goes farther. The marketing also shows how companies tried to make chicory feel normal — sold at grocers, branded as “pure,” and pushed through everyday routines.

A 1939 newspaper report adds scale. It tied Michigan chicory to Muller and Heinr. Franck Sons, Inc., and claimed the firms handled tens of millions of pounds of chicory roots in a single year, with thousands of acres planted in the Thumb. We treat that as period reporting, but it helps explain why Michigan took chicory seriously as an industry.

This video is a reference for Michigan agriculture history, Thumb region industry, Port Huron manufacturing, Bay City food processing, and railroad-era supply chains. Michigan’s chicory story matters because it shows how the state’s farms and factories worked together to shape what Americans ate and drank.

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