The "You Wearing A Red Rose Shirt Or Hat? Story

It was an ordinary day.  Visiting with my brother who lives in Ephrata, Pennsylvania which is about 20 miles from my home in Lancaster.  Steve is what I would call, among other things, a picker.  He loves to go to yard sales, auctions or any other place where he may find a few old treasures that its owner doesn't realize has some value or just wants to get rid of it.  He has given me quite a few unusual items in the past which I in turn eventually return to him after realizing I have no need for it.  

The old feed bag my brother
gave to me.

Well, a week or so ago he showed me an old feed bag that he had found and thought he would put it on eBay to try and sell it.  The feed bag was made of a fabric-like material that at one time held 100 pounds of Red Rose Pigeon Feed and was sold and packaged by John W. Eshelman & Sons who were located in Lancaster, PA.  Across the bottom of the bag was written, Eshleman 1842.  Now, I did take the bag with me when I left his house, but with a promise to return it when I was done with it.  I naturally had to do some research on the bag in order to see who might buy it and how much they might be willing to pay for it.  Did a bit of online research and found that John B. Eshelman had died on April 28, 2016 at the age of 88.  He was, as far as I could determine, the last living member of the Eshelman family who helped run the Eshelman & Sons feed company.  John B's great-great-grandfather began selling grist mill products to his farmer friends and neighbors in 1842.  

Other bags of feed sold by Eshelman & Sons.

The company was developed using the tolling system which was the standard way for millers and farmers to do business at the time.  The miller, in this case John Eshelman, took a "toll" of one measure of flour from each bag ground.  This was his pay for grinding the grain.  The bags were supplied by the farmers who eventually increased the size of the bag so the miller would get less of a "toll" than with a smaller bag.  The miller finally realized what was happening and began using their own smaller bags.  

Ever use Eshelman Dog & Puppy Food?

It was at that point in time that the feed bag was born.  I'm not sure how old the feed bag was that Steve gave to me, but the story of the bag was interesting.  The Eshelman family eventually began making animal feed and in 1919 Eshelman formed a partnership with four of his five sons.  The fifth son invented an ingenious sewing machine and began to manufacture feed bags.  It was in 1921 that the company expanded to York, PA and adopted the name of Red Rose Feeds to honor its English namesake, the Red Rose City of Lancashire.  The business flourished selling feed all across the Eastern seaboard and in places such as Cyprus, Lebanon, Spain and Jamaica.  

Click on this image and read more about Eshelman feeds.

Triple Crown winners Secretariat and Riva Ridge ate Red Rose Feed and every horse track on the east coast fed it to their horses.  Then in 1974 John W. Eshelman sold the business to the Carnation Company. Eventually the family began to make shirts, hats and other garments using the Red Rose Feed label and logo.  So, those of you reading this story today who may have a Red Rose hat or shirt on today are wearing over 164 years of history.  And, as far as what the feed bag was worth, I stopped looking since I knew it was worth something and I didn't want to sell it and upset my brother when I told him how much it was worth.  He can sell it on eBay and find out for himself.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.