Charles Alfred Pillsbury

Mr. Pillsbury is a native of New Hampshire, having been born at Warner, Merrimac County on October 3, 1842. His father George Alfred Pillsbury, a shopkeeper.

Charles A. Pillsbury graduated from Dartmouth College at the age of twenty-one. His collegiate course was interrupted somewhat by teaching school as a means of partial self-support while in college.

In 1869 he settled in Minneapolis and bought an interest in a small flour mill at the Falls after suggestion by his uncle John S. Pillsbury.

Under Charles's management, the business grew rapidly and posted a considerable profit within three years. It also received a new name: Charles A. Pillsbury and Co.

He later traveled widely in Europe, becoming familiar with market conditions and investigating new milling techniques. Mr. Pillsbury was among the first to adopt the new invention and reaped a rich harvest on account of the reputation which his celebrated "Pillsbury's Best" attained before the new device came into general use. By 1880 Pillsbury had acquired four other mills, and in 1881 they built the largest single flour mill in the world.

Pillsbury died on September 17, 1899 from a heart ailment
Charles Alfred Pillsbury