Monsanto

After 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry, John Francis Queeny, still an employee of Meyer Brothers Drug Company, sank his savings and money borrowed from a Chicago soft drink supplier into a new company to produce products for the food and pharmaceutical industries. He named the company after his wife, whose maiden name was Olga Mendez Monsanto. The incorporation papers are filed on Nov. 29, 1901.

The company’s first product was called saccharin, and in 1903 and 1905, the company’s entire output was shipped to a growing soft drink company in Georgia called Coca-Cola.

In 1904, the company added Vanilla and Caffeine to its product line.

In 1917, aspirin production begins, Monsanto goes on to become the largest manufacturer of aspirin in the United States.

On October 10, 1929 (just 2 weeks before the crash), Monsanto is listed on the NYSE, the stock goes from 77 ¾ to 47 ½.

In 1953, General Motors produces the first car with a fiberglass body - the Corvette. Monsanto supplies the fiberglass.