Sechler's Pickle Factory

From http://www.gourmetpickles.com/pages/history.html:

The origins of Ralph Sechler & Son, Inc. date back 85 years to 1914, just before the First World War. Ralph Sechler actually got his start in the pickle business running a pickle station in St. Joe, Indiana for the D. M. Sears Company. He'd deliver "brine stock" (freshly picked cucumbers in salt brine) by horse-drawn wagon to a railroad siding in nearby St. Joe Indiana, where it would be transported by rail to Sears, 20 miles away in Ft. Wayne.

After a respite from the business in college and the Army, Ralph went back to work for Sears in 1919. Two years later he leased two of their pickle stations, getting his start as an entrepreneur. He was still shipping the brine stock to other companies like Heinz. By the early '30s Ralph was selling pickles and relish in bulk in wooden kegs and barrels, some of this directly to restaurants. Jars for consumer sales were hand-packed by Ralph's wife Anne in her kitchen, often with the help of some neighbor ladies. In 1930 the business grew out of the house. The barn was converted into a factory, after another home was found for the cow. After the barn burned in 1937, a masonry building was erected from which the present facility continues to grow.

Sechler's Pickles is still located near St. Joe, Indiana. That old farm house in which Anne Sechler hand-packed pickles now serves as an office. The surrounding facility, including the tank yard, now exceeds 60,000 sq. ft.