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Unknown Stories of WNY: First Kraft Company In Buffalo

While you know its taste, what you may not have known is it all started not too far from Buffalo, in Fort Erie, Ontario.

FORT ERIE, ONT. - Who doesn't love mac and cheese? For some it is a staple, and for many, the favorite brand is Kraft.

While you know its taste, what you may not have known is it all started not too far from Buffalo, in Fort Erie, Ontario.

The story of J.L. Kraft starts in Stevensville, Ontario in 1874. As a young man, Kraft worked at Ferguson's General store in Fort Erie, which stood on Niagara Boulevard, not far from where a historic marker dedicated to Kraft stands today.

It was at Ferguson's that he got the idea of reducing waste by coming up with a new way of processing cheese. Within a few years, he opened up his own company in Buffalo, before moving on to the Chicago area and growing an idea into a giant.

Fort Erie Historical Museum Manager Jane Davies says, "He's a rags to riches story, he started on a dairy farm and we all know the Kraft empire he built." Davies adds, "It really gives children pride in their community that if someone can start here and become J.L. Kraft of Kraft International Food, why can't they? So it really creates a sense of community pride."

None has more pride than his relatives who still live here. Diana Kelley is a great niece, who works in the Fort Erie Municipal Building. "My father always said he was a very generous man. I didn't get to know him personally because he passed away before I was born, but it is just an honor and every time you see the name Kraft, warms your heart to see that."

Diana's sister Patty Carpenter shared a bit of family history, that the name was originally spelled with two "F's", KRAFFT, but the man who painted J.L.'s first wagon misspelled the name. They didn't have the cash to get it repainted, so they kept it. That spelling remains today, on the boxes, and even the sign on the Fort Erie street bearing the family name.

Patty says, "To grow up on Kraft Road and to take pride and to every so often share that story with people you have been friends with forever and they have no idea what your background is."

Much of that pride comes in why their great uncle came up with the process in the first place.

According to Jane Davies, It was just after the depression, during the war rationing years. Kraft wanted to offer an inexpensive, easy to store and easy to serve meal. The rest is history.

"it's a social history story. He was very interested in people eating well and preserving the food and not wasting money, and it wasn't all about him making money, it was about helping people live better lives." And adding a little extra flavor to the Unknown Stories of Western New York, along with in this case, Southern Ontario.

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