43rd Street near Woodland Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19143
© John Mayer,
Workshop of the
World (Oliver Evans Press, 1990).
The distinctive Breyers Ice
Cream neon-sign, visible from the Schuylkill Expressway
as one passes near the University of Pennsylvania,
locates the Philadelphia plant of this regional ice-cream
manufacturing company, built in 1924.
William A. Breyer began his ice cream making business
from modest beginnings, using a small, hand-operated
freezer for production and a wagon as the means of
distribution. Breyer's commitment to quality ingredients
and his "pledge of purity" made his ice cream a popular
treat and by 1882, Breyers opened a retail store at 2776
Frankford Avenue that also included a small manufacturing
area. 1
Between 1882 and 1923, Breyer's business expanded. Ice
cream making facilities out-grew the Frankford Avenue
store; in 1896, Breyer moved to a plant at 2103 Somerset
Street. Shortly thereafter, in 1908, the company moved to
a new location at 9th and Cumberland Streets.
2
Finally, in 1924,
the existing facility was built. By 1931 Breyers employed
over 500 workers in the factory that was considered "the
largest modern" ice cream plant in the world, capable of
producing 70,000 gallons of ice cream a day.
3
By 1946 the Breyers Company included a network of
creameries, distribution facilities and three
manufacturing plants, the Philadelphia plant plus Long
Island and Brooklyn facilities.
Today the Breyers Ice Cream Company is part of the Philip
Morris/Kraft General Foods, Frozen Products division, a
major conglomerate of beer (Miller), tobacco (Philip
Morris, etc.) and foods (Oscar Mayer, Kraft, etc.)
companies.
1 Breyers Ice Cream
Company, The
American Way; A History of the Breyers Ice Cream
Company, (Philadelphia, 1946).
2 Pennsylvania State
Department of Labor and Industry, p. 879; see also,
Pennsylvania State Department of Internal Affairs,
Seventh Industrial Directory of Pennsylvania,
(Harrisburg, 1931), p. 508.
3 Federal Writer's
Project, p. 495.
Update May
2007 (by
Joel Spivak):
Demolished.
See also:
"Turn On Your Love
Light", Tamar Cherry, Citypaper,
Nov. 23, 2005 - describes closing of the Breyers plant
[Oct. 27, 2005] and questions prospects for the
sign.
Breyers Ice Cream - corporate
website