Feature Article

The Sutler Secret of Erhard Steinbacher

By: Robert C. Reszler

Oatmeal is a staple on tables across America, and Quaker Oats is one of the most recognized brand names in the world. These, however, are relatively recent phenomena. One hundred forty-five years ago, most Americans were unfamiliar with oatmeal as a foodstuff, yet in a matter of only fifteen years it had become integral part of the American cuisine. How this dish went from relatively unknown to standard fare in just a few years is a legitimate, yet perplexing question. Historians have traced the oatmeal industry (and its most famous brand) to Akron, Ohio in the 1860s, but the particulars of its origins and phenomenal growth have never been explained satisfactorily. Local Akron, Ohio, legend states that Ferdinand Schumacher, "Oatmeal King" and founder of Quaker Oats, started his business empire with the help of close friend Erhard Steinbacher. Steinbacher had supposedly managed to get Schumacher a one hundred barrel trial order to supply Union Army troops during the Civil War.¹ Until recently, this legend has been accepted as fact, yet research into official government and army records provides no evidence that the Army or the Sanitary Commission ever directly supplied Schumacher's products to the troops. If Schumacher started the American oatmeal industry through supplying great quantities to Union troops, it had to have been via unofficial channels. The issue of Schumacher's success is not in dispute: by the mid-1860s he was running several mills and was the wealthiest man in Akron. The issue of where and how the oatmeal was sold, however, is not as clear. This paper will illustrate that the secret to the success of the oatmeal industry in America may lie in a much deeper role for Erhard Steinbacher as a Civil War "sutler," providing hungry Union soldiers with an introduction and pipeline to Schumacher's new dish, and thus whetting their appetite for more when the war was over.

Ferdinand Schumacher and Erhard Steinbacher were both German immigrants who came to Akron in the middle of the nineteenth century.  Schumacher was born in Celle, Hanover, in 1822, and arrived in America with his brother Otto in 1850. After working a farm in Euclid, Ohio, with Otto, he arrived in Akron a year and a half later.²

Steinbacher was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1825, and arrived in Akron in 1844. Five years later, he displayed his enterprising nature as he caught the Gold Rush Fever of 1849 and left for California. He returned permanently to Akron in 1851 a successful man.³

During the decade of the 1850s, both Schumacher and Steinbacher owned and operated businesses in the center of the city of Akron. On December 3, 1851, Schumacher and fellow German Theodor Weibezahn advertised the opening of their new "German Store" in P.D. Hall's block on Medina Street. Their store specialized in fancy goods and toys, along with jewelry, cutlery, musical instruments, lace goods, embroideries, hosiery, perfumery, cigars, and pictures.⁴

In the very same edition of The Summit Beacon, Erhard Steinbacher, along with partner George C. Weimer, proclaimed the opening of their new Drug Store three doors west of Cobb's Exchange on Market Street. This ad first appeared on May 14, 1851, and declaring their intent to sell drugs, medicines, paints, oils, dye stuffs, brushes of all kinds, glass and glassware, perfumery, fancy soaps and patent medicines.⁵

Schumacher and Steinbacher's paths crossed no later than 1852 when Schumacher moved to a new location on Market Street, this time without former partner Theodor Weibezahn. This new location happened to be the former location of Weimer and Steinbacher,⁶ who moved two doors west into larger quarters.⁷ In the move, Schumacher's business changed to a purveyor of groceries, as Weibezahn remained at the old location as the German Store selling fancy goods.⁸

As late as 1855, Schumacher was still operating as a retail storefront, selling Bremen cigars, Moche coffee, nice cheese, fancy willow baskets, fresh Detroit River whitefish, Georges Bank codfish and dried halibut, without any mention of oatmeal in his newspaper ads.⁹

  Page 1 of 18 Next >>