Charles William “C. W.” Post began his breakfast empire on this site in 1892 when he opened La Vita Inn sanitarium. His first commercial success came in 1894 with the hot beverage Postum, and in 1896 he organized the Postum Cereal Company. Continued experiments with grains produced Grape-Nuts, his first cold cereal, in 1897. By 1908-09, sales of Grape-Nuts, Postum, and Post Toasties exceeded $5 million. After Post’s death, his daughter Marjorie led the company, continued extensive advertising, and expanded the product line. In 1929 the company became General Foods Corporation, then passed to the Philip Morris Companies in 1985, and the plant became part of Kraft Foods in 1989. Breakfast cereal production on this site began in 1894 when Post perfected his Postum drink. Beginning with commercial production in one barn, the factory complex developed into a center where research, grain processing, and packaging all took place. With structures dating from as early as 1895, the complex reflected the evolution of cereal making. During the early 1900s it was known as the “white city” for its widespread use of white paint, and it grew to include grain silos, a power plant, offices, processing plants, a paper factory, and warehouses. Post’s office stood in the central Elizabethan building, which also housed the advertising department and became the employee clubhouse in 1925.