CO 2869Book Redo

W.K. Kellogg Foundation “I’ll Invest My Money in People” A biographical sketch of the Founder of the Kellogg Company and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation “I’ll Invest My Money in People” Published by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Battle Creek, Michigan Tenth Edition, February 2002 Revised and reprinted 2000,1998, 1993, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1987, 1984. First edition published 1979. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 90-063691 Printed in the United States of America Table of Contents Part 1 – W.K. Kellogg’s House Van Buren Street Residence 5 Part 2 – The Philanthropist “I’ll Invest My Money In People” 29 Beginnings 30 The Sanitarium Years 45 The Executive 48 Success and Tragedy 51 The Shy Benefactor 63 The W.K. Kellogg Foundation 70 A home is not a mere transient shelter. Its essence lies in its permanence, in its capacity for accretion and solidification, in its quality of representing, in all its details, the personalities of the people who live in it. H.L. Mencken, 1929 Part 1 W.K. Kellogg’s House Van Buren Street Residence W.K. Kellogg. The man’s name, spoken or written, almost a half-century after his death, is associated with entrepreneurship, creativity, vision, and humanitarianism. Those are big words. However appropriate they may be, 5 they probably would have been shunned by Mr. Kellogg—the developer of a worldwide cereal industry and an international foundation that is dedicated to helping people to solve societal problems. He shied from any hint of praise for himself. With a candor that matched his devotion to action and outcomes, he was known to turn aside compliments, flattery, or acclaim. Elsie Hoatson Elbon, W.K.’s nurse for many years during his later life, commented: “I never heard him brag about the many things he had done for oth- ers. Not ever.” Tributes made him uncomfort- able, as proved by his own remarks. In 1931, for instance, he wrote in a business memo: I object seriously to being referred to as the Cereal King (by) the editor of (a national newspaper)…He used the word philan- thropy several times. I asked him to cut it out and to take out the apple sauce. That same year he advised his grandson: In conversation with people forget the word “I.” Keep your feet on the earth and your head up, but not too high in the sky. Be humble. For a man of W.K.’s wealth, his residence at 256 West Van Buren was anything but grand or showy. It had 4500 square feet of living space (counting the basement), making it no larger than most of the homes in the immediate area. It was a two-story structure, again, like most of its neighbors. But it differed from other nearby houses because of its simple design and stucco exterior. This contrasted with the prevailing popular, ornate, gothic frame styles. 6 W.K.’s house, like the man, was free of trap- pings, even restrained. Its personality matched well the simpler tastes and preferences of its owner. It had an aura of stability and durability about it that caught and held the eye and the interest of any passerby who took the time to give it more than a random glance. From about 1911 until 1990, the house on West Van Buren stood directly across the street from McCamly Park. Between 1918 and 1924 it was the home for Mr. Kellogg and his second wife, Dr. Carrie Staines. There they occasionally entertained visitors, frequently hosted family gatherings that brought three generations of Kelloggs together around the dinner table or the Christmas tree, and on sultry summer evenings sat on the open front porch of the house and drank ice-cooled lemonade and listened to the music that floated across to them from the band concerts in the park. The house sat just east of the nearby Kellogg Hotel (later named the Hart Hotel) and only a short walk northwest to the Kellogg Inn on Champion Street, where the early offices of the Foundation would one day be situated. Many of the city’s streets were only hard packed ground, looking like well-traveled country roads, as did Van Buren in front of the Kellogg house in its beginning years. Horse-drawn buggies and wag- ons could be heard at all hours of the day, clack- ing along, driven by husky fellows who easily delivered 50-pound blocks of dripping ice to homes and businesses along their routes, and white-jacketed men carrying rattling wire cases of glass bottles filled with cream and fresh milk, haulers and movers of every sort going about their work. Added in was the regular clanging 7 racket of the electric streetcar as it moved up Washington past the Sanitarium to Ann Avenue, then across to Wood and finally, retracing its own tracks, rumbled down Washington to Main Street on its trip back toward the hub of town. There were few automobiles on the roads, though the number was growing noticeably. Soon Van Buren boasted an impressive, paved surface of macadam. The end result was a cacophony of noise and activity in a busy, thriv- ing Battle Creek. Viewing it from the Kellogg front porch was to watch a living picture of pros- perity, vitality, and progress. When Mr. Kellogg walked in his backyard and looked up beyond a tall, wood frame house situated on Champion Street, he could see the sprawling, six-story Battle Creek Sanitarium stretching two city blocks into the distance. Again and again, that view surely recalled for him the two and a half decades of 14-hour work days, myriad duties, and low pay he had endured at the “San,” conditions that unques- tionably left profound impressions. A former vice president of the Kellogg Foundation, Leonard White, recalls: “All through his life, including the 25 years he worked for Dr. Kellogg at the Sanitarium, W.K. was generous. He saw to it that people who needed extra help received it, that bills were forgiven. All during the Depression he saw to it that his employees had coal for their stoves when they needed it.” Russell G. Mawby, former chief executive officer of the Kellogg Foundation and chairman of its board, pointed out that W.K. believed “sometimes charity such as food, clothing, and shelter is necessary. But he felt that usually the 8 John L. Kellogg, Jr. and Will Keith Kellogg II, grandsons of W.K. Kellogg, shown in the driveway of the Van Buren Street residence. They are wear- ing uniforms of the Citizens Military Training Corps (the high school equivalent of ROTC). The year is approximately 1926. 9 L After W.K. Kellogg 10 moved to the Kellogg Inn, John L. Kellogg, Jr., and his mother, (both shown here) lived in the Van Buren house, as did Will Keith Kellogg II, Hanna’s other son. The time was 1926. L L W.K. Kellogg’s West Van Buren Street residence shown here near the Battle Creek Sanitarium. 11 L L Preparation to move 12 the 100-ton house began in early March 1990. L L On the morning of March 24, W.K. Kellogg’s house began it’s short journey through downtown. 13 Power lines and telephone lines were lowered ahead of the house as it moved past familiar landmarks along city streets, restricted from normal traffic usage. The utility lines were then restored in its wake. 14 15 L L Nearly four hours 16 later, the house relo- cated in the downtown area, the steel girders are removed L L Throughout the summer of 1990, con- struction continued around the house as the ground was cleared for its perma- nent location. 17 By late September, exterior work was nearing com- pletion. The fieldstone wall, which edges the city’s Linear Park path, was in place. 18 The now-classic decor of the early 1920s is recreated in the living room. A grand piano and Oriental rug, similar to those of Mr. Kellogg, are accented by a graceful statuette of a young woman. The statuette actually was owned by Mr. Kellogg. 19 Restored to its original beauty, the dining room reflects its own historic time. The tall breakfront belonged to Mr. Kellogg. 20 This elegant, recreated bedroom now holds some of Mr. Kellogg’s possessions. The armchair beside the desk, the elephant sculpture on the mantle, and the paintings all were his. Other fur- nishings are authentic to the period. 21 Viewed from the Foundation’s headquarters site in October 1990, north across the Battle Creek River, the house blends serenely with its surroundings. 22 23 The front porch and sunroom of the Kellogg House today look out across a low fieldstone wall toward the nearby river in downtown Battle Creek. 24 most good could be done by helping people to help themselves. The main thing is to give them the opportunity to do that which is important to them, rather than doing it for them or telling them what they ought to do.” Mawby said, “That belief became the purpose of the Foundation Mr. Kellogg created and, like the Van Buren Street house, it has stood the test of time.” Norman Williamson, Jr., grandson of W.K. Kellogg, described the house as he remembered it: On the front was an uncovered porch where one could sit in good weather .…Immediately behind the porch was a sunroom that reached to the second story. The entry from the street was directly into the living room. It was large, for it extend- ed the entire width of the house with win- dows on both the east and west and a sunroom to the south.

Load more