125: Sliced Bread


July 7 marks the 87th anniversary of the production of the first loaves of sliced bread.
Here are some facts you may not have known about the greatest thing since, well, sliced bread.
First, the commercial bread slicing machine was invented by Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa. He built a prototype in 1912 which was destroyed in a fire. The Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri was the first bakery to use the machine.
Second, the innovation was touted as “The greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.” Which means Sliced Bread was the greatest thing since wrapped bread. History is silent as to what the greatest thing before that was.
Third, sliced bread was banned in the United States for two months in 1943. It was believed that sliced bread required more paper to keep fresh than unsliced bread because of the increased surface area. The ban was lifted when the savings were not as great as anticipated.
Our question: what was the first brand of sliced bread to be sold nationally in the United States?
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