Wickes Agriculture

Company History: Wickes Cos. was one of the nation's largest retailers with $4 billion in annual sales at such chain outlets as Builders Emporium, Wickes Lumber, Wickes Furniture, and Woman's World Shops. It entered in Chapter 11 corporate reorganization in 1982, in one of the largest bankruptcy relief actions ever filed.

Wickes Agriculture Division was sold to the Pillsbury Company of Minneapolis for approximately $43.4 million in 1982.

Successor/Parent History: Pillsbury is an American brand name used by Minneapolis-based General Mills and Orrville, Ohio-based J.M. Smucker Company. Historically, the Pillsbury Company, also based in Minneapolis, was a rival company to General Mills and was one of the world's largest producers of grain and other foodstuffs until it was bought out by General Mills in 2001. Antitrust law required General Mills to sell off some of the products. General Mills kept the rights to refrigerated and frozen Pillsbury products, while dry baking products and frosting are now sold by Smucker under license.

C.A. Pillsbury and Company was founded in 1872 by Charles Alfred Pillsbury and his uncle John S. Pillsbury. The company was second only to Washburn-Crosby to use steel rollers for processing grain in the United States. The finished product required transportation, so the Pillsburys assisted in funding railroad development in Minnesota.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.