THE PLANT
above, The Ingersoll Packing Company looking south from Victoria Street.
above, images from the collection of the Ingersoll Cheese & Agricultural Museum depicting the Ingersoll Packing Company looking northward from the Canadian National Railway.
above, a 1932 Ingersoll Fire Insurance map showing the Ingersoll Packing/Cheese Company sandwiched between Victoria Street and Canadian National Railway. The office is depicted on the northwest corner of Wonham & Victoria.
Fire (date unknown) destroyed the Packing Company’s office building, a hose near the pork plant. In 1908 Thomas L. Boyd visited Ingersoll and authorizes a dedicated office building. Below is a description of the new building and brief biographies of the staff who occupied it.
Ingersoll Chronicle, 19 March, 1908.
THE PACKING CO’S NEW OFFICES. STAFF NOW OCCUPYING HANDSOME NEW BUILDING – A SHORT DESCRIPTION.
The new office building of the Ingersoll Packing Company on the northwest corner of Victoria and Wonham Streets, which the staff is now occupying, is the embodiment of beauty and convenience. The exterior of the building is strikingly imposing, while the interior throughout was constructed along lines affording the greatest convenience combined with which there is much artistic workmanship …
The main entrance from Victoria Street leads into a spacious lobby with tiled floor. To the right is the private office of Mr. C.C.L. Wilson, general manager, and to the left is the office occupied by Mr. J.H. Thomas, manager of the cheese department. These offices are elegantly furnished. Adjacent to Mr. Wilson’s room is a cosy little office for his private secretary, Miss Robertson, and next to that is the office for Mr. C.H. Sumner, Assistant Manager. The general offices with desks, drawers, tables, etc., occupy the central area, and beyond this the offices used by Messrs. Wallace, Muir, and Hook are located. The floor is of select hardwood, oiled and waxed, and there are lavatories, cloak rooms, and spacious fire proof vaults. A modern system of private telephone exchange for 20 persons is being installed with an operator in charge giving direct connection with every department.
above, The Plant and Office employees of the Ingersoll Cream Cheese Co. Ltd on VJ day, August 14, 1945. Image courtesy of the Ingersoll Cheese & Agricultural Museum.
above, The Plant of the Ingersoll Cream Cheese Co. Ltd. Image courtesy of the Ingersoll Cheese & Agricultural Museum.
THE PACKAGING – Wooden Cheese Boxes
above, images from the Ingersoll Cheese & Agricultural Museum collection
THE PACKAGING – Jars, Paper & Foil
above, images from the Ingersoll Cheese & Agricultural Museum collection
THE PRINT ADVERTISING
above, images from the Ingersoll Cheese & Agricultural Museum collection
above, an inventive recipe booklet, promoting Ingersoll Cream Cheese.
PROMOTIONAL DISPLAYS
above,CANADIAN NATIONAL EXHIBITION—Exhibit of the Ingersoll Packing Co. The walls were panelled in green burlap and were decorated with attractive hangers and other advertising matter, issued by the firm to assist the sale of the goods. Hanging across the top of the booth was the familiar wrapper with the yellow cow in the centre. Four demonstrators waited upon the ublic, the majority of whom were already conversant with the high quality of this already well-known cream cheese. Hard facts tell the story of the popularity of Ingersoll Cream Cheese in blocks.
excerpt from, The Canadian Grocer, April-December 1908
above, an image from the Toronto City Archives, of the R. S. Jones store, with a window display of Ingersoll Cream Cheese.
THE PEOPLE
James L. Grant (1852-1899)
His obituary from the Ingersoll Chronicle, June 13, 1899
C.C.L. (Charles Clement Lumsden) Wilson (1846-1919)
General Manager of the Packing Company from 1881 until his death in 1919. Charles Clement Lumsden Wilson 
had emigrated with his parents from Aberdeen, Scotland, to Ontario, at the age of one. He was raised in Hamilton and Brantford; worked nine years for a wholesale grocer in St. Louis, Missouri; ran a grocery business in Ingersoll with his brother, James Wilson, for five years; was manager of the local Bell Telephone Company in Ingersoll; and for 38 years was manager of the Ingersoll Packing Company.
above, Wilson’s obituary from the Ingersoll Chronicle, February 20, 1919
James H. Thomas (1858-1934)
Manager of the Cheese Department, born on a farm near Mt. Elgin, joined the Packing Company in 1886, and headed the cheese department from 1894 until his death in 1934.
above, Thomas’s obituary from the Ingersoll Tribune, February 15, 1934
Cyrus Hartsuff Sumner (1866-1949),
Assistant Manager, Packing Company. Born Ingersoll, 1886, joined Company 1886 as a travelling salesman for pork and cheese. In 1908 he had been named Secretary of the newly formed Ingersoll Packing Company, Ltd. In 1926 he was to replace Harry Wilson as Managing Director of the Packing Company, and to become Vice-President and Managing Director of the newly formed Ingersoll Cream Cheese Co. He was to hold those position through to his retirement in 1945.
Sumner went on to write a paper entitled ‘The Development of the Cheese Industry in Oxford County and the History of the Ingersoll Cream Cheese Company‘, which detailed his career at the company.
above, Sumner’s obituary from the Ingersoll Tribune, October 13, 1949.
Macdonald (Mac) Wallace (1878-1950), bookkeeper. He had joined the Cheese Department in 1908 after service in the T.D. Miller Paragon Cheese Company; he was to retire in 1938.
John B. Muir (1861-1934), cheese buyer. Born in Ingersoll. Joined the company in 1895.
William D. Hook (1868-1911), accountant. When T.D. Miller died in 1894, his nephew, Hook inherited his shares of the Paragon Cheese Company. He became an employee of the Packing Company in 1901 then the Packing Company acquired his company.
above, Hook’s obituary from the Ingersoll Chronicle, February 23, 1911
Helen Lillian Robertson (1883-1944), age 24, stenographer. Lillian was to marry Ben Olney in 1918; Lillian died in Rochester 1944.
above, Olney’s obituary from the Ingersoll Tribune, August 17, 1944.
Ingersoll Historical Photo Gallery 
My name is Bill Cragg & one of my first jobs was a packer of margine in the factory.
Also C.C.L. Wilson was my relative!
Hi there Bill. This is a fascinating history. I will be sure to read it in detail, I’ve only scanned through it so far. I am wondering specificlly about Ingersoll Cheese spread in the jar similar to Craft Cheeze Whiz. It was far superior. I could swear it was still being produced until about 2010. Do you know which company was the last to produce it and when ? Best regards
Paul Sheedy, Winnipeg
As a child some 70 years ago my uncle would go to Canada on a yearly fishing trip . I would beg him to bring package of Ingersoll’s Baby Roll cheese home with him. I really liked that cheese, is it still made? And may I order some? Thank you.
The Ingersoll Cheese Company is no longer in production. Thank you for this fabulous memory.