2015 Marks Centennial for Minnesota Chemical Co.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Chemical Co. is celebrating its 100th anniversary this month—a milestone made even more remarkable by the fact the company is still owned and actively managed by the same family that established in 1915.

Today, the company provides a full range of equipment and supplies to dry cleaners and commercial, institutional and coin-operated laundries throughout the Upper Midwest.

Family ownership began with R.P. Baker, who founded the company in the Midway area of St. Paul with several other immigrants from Ireland. The company initially focused on supplying local customers with a variety of soaps and cleaning compounds that the company made in a small building on Wycliff Avenue.

Company founders were originally attracted to the area for two reasons: proximity to the Minnesota Transfer Railroad’s hub, and the presence of meat processing plants; those plants provided beef tallow, a critical component in soap manufacturing. At that point, The Minnesota Chemical Co. was manufacturing soap and distributing its products to creameries, laundries and dry cleaners.

Except for a move to a larger building a block away in 1937, the company has been in the “Midway Transfer” area for a century.

Increasing popularity in the company’s products fueled expansion. By the late 1920s, the company was selling cleaning compounds and soaps throughout an eight-state area in the Midwest.

Upon R.P. Baker’s death in 1943, the family’s second generation—sons Robert, Dan and John Baker—took over the company. The three had all been involved in key management roles—Dan as sales manager, John as plant manager, and Robert as a specialty salesman—prior to the outbreak of World War II.

Within a decade, the “Baker boys” had moved the company away from manufacturing soap and instead refocused it on distributing national brands of laundry and drycleaning supplies and equipment.

In 1952, they opened a sales office and warehouse in Milwaukee, Wis. A decade later, an equipment sales and service office was added in Waverly, Iowa.

In 1985, the “Baker boys” retired together, transitioning the company to their sons, Mike (John’s son), Steve and Dan (Robert’s two sons).

Now, a fourth generation of Bakers, Mike’s son, James, is working for the company.

Today, The Minnesota Chemical Co. provides laundry and drycleaning supplies and equipment to customers in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Its supply and equipment sales staff, and parts and service department, serve dry cleaners and industrial, institutional, commercial and coin-operated laundries.

The Minnesota Chemical Co. is celebrating its 100th anniversary this month. The distributor provides a full range of equipment and supplies to dry cleaners and commercial, institutional and coin-operated laundries throughout the Upper Midwest. After a century, it’s still owned and actively managed by the Baker family. (Photos: The Minnesota Chemical Co.)

In the early 1930s, R.P. Baker found the perfect spot to relocate his company just one block south of its original headquarters in St. Paul, Minn. Baker had more space—close to 50,000 square feet—along with frontage on a rail spur and lots of ground-floor warehouse space.

In 1915, company founder R.P. Baker kept all of the company records in book ledger form, handwriting each entry. Cash in the drawer was listed as $10, hardly enough in 2015 to buy much of anything. Cash paid out ranged from 15 cents for sponges to 10 cents for stamps.

Upon R.P. Baker’s death in 1943, the family’s second generation—(from left) sons Robert, John and Dan Baker—took over the company.

(From left) Dan, Mike and Steve Baker took over Minnesota Chemical Co. leadership in 1985 from the second generation of Bakers who had led the company for 40 years.

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