The measure of how wonderful a thing is is it’s relationship to the creation of sliced bread. Surprisingly, it was not till 1928 that someone had the idea to slice a loaf before placing it in a bag. While Battle Creek, Michigan claims to be the home of the best thing since whatever there was before sliced bread, it is more commonly believed that the birth of pre-slicing took place in Chillicothe, Missouri.
With two plaques in the city, it is nearly impossible to deny that Chillicothe, and their bread slicing mania are the birthplace of invention. The self proclaimed “Home of Sliced Bread” actually has a fair bit of evidence that give some serious authority to their claim.
Otto F. Rohwedder, first put his invention to use at Frank Bench’s Chillicothe Baking Company and there are newspaper clippings to prove it. In 2001 his still living 88 year old son flew from Arkansas to Missouri with a scrapbook full of said newspapers to make it official. Believe it or not there was a fair bit of fame and fortune that came with the invention of a bread slicing machine, and Otto F. Rohwedder was sitting pretty till the Great Depression hit and he was forced to sell his patents.
