Essex Junction’s Vermont Maple Syrup Company Building

I am please to share an article recently written and published by Laurie Jordan of Essex Junction, Vermont on the history of the Vermont Maple Syrup Company building.  Laurie Jordan, along with her husband Joe Jordan is a syrup maker, collector of maple industry antiques, and an avocational historian.

The syrup company building was constructed in 1916 in Essex Junction, Vermont by F.N. Johnson for his Vermont Maple Syrup Company. Between 1916 and 1991, this building was been home to a number of important maple syrup packers and bottling companies, inlcuding Vermont Maid syrup, Vermont Maple Orchards, and United Maple Products of Vermont. Although it has been put to uses other than maple syrup processing in the last 30 years, it is still standing in its original location.

You can read a PDF of the article at this link or by clicking on the image  of the article. The article first appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of The Echo, the Newsletter of the Essex Community Historical Society and is reproduced here with their permission and the permission of the author, Laurie Jordan.

Maple History Presentation at the Dominion & Grimm Open House

I will be giving a free presentation on the history of the G.H. Grimm Company on the afternoon of Friday and Saturday, April 25th and 26th at the open house of maple syrup equipment company Dominion & Grimm in St. Albans, Vermont.  Click on the flyer below for more information.

The Grimm Company began making evaporators for maple sugar in 1881 making it one of the first evaporator companies in North America.  Come join me at the presentation and learn more about how the company started and grew in its first 100 years of operation.

 

Exploring the Beginnings of Reverse Osmosis for the Maple Syrup Industry

You can read my latest maple history contribution to the March 2025 edition of the Maple Syrup Digest newsletter at this link or by clicking on the image of the article. The  Maple Syrup Digest, it is the official quarterly publication of the North American Maple Syrup Council.

This article takes a detailed look at the people and events that came together in the 1960s and 1970s to apply the new technology of reverse osmosis to the processing and concentration of maple sap. Today, reverse osmosis technology is a standard tool in all sizes of maple operations, yet the story of its origins and introduction is less well understood. This article covers the first two decades of the evolution of reverse osmosis for maple syrup, from an experimental concept to functional designs, commercial production, and industry adoption.

You can read the article at this link or by clinking on the accompanying image.

2025 St. Johnsbury Maple History Tour

I am happy to share that on the afternoon of Saturday, April 19, 2025, I will be leading a special bus tour of historic sites in and around the communities of St. Johnsbury and Danville, Vermont sharing this region’s unique history of maple syrup making. The tour is presented by the Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce and the Cary & Main Company.

Participants can register at the Cary & Main website through this link: https://www.caryandmain.com/ or by clicking on the announcement above.

Additional Details

Enjoy the rare opportunity to have an expert historian personally transport and guide you through a unique chapter in the history of Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom while learning about the people and places responsible for St. Johnsbury, Vermont being named the Maple Center of the World.

This tour is offered as special event during the Kingdom Maple Festival in downtown St. Johnsbury.

The tour will be led by maple industry historian and author Dr. Matthew Thomas, a leading expert on the history of the Cary Maple Sugar and Maple Grove companies. Travelling by bus, participants will enjoy a narrated tour that will visit over a dozen locations in and around St. Johnsbury that are important in the history of the Cary and Maple Grove Companies.

   

Participants will receive a one-of-a-kind 120+ page illustrated guidebook authored by Dr. Thomas exclusively for this tour, which features historic images and information on all of the sites visited on the tour.

Because space will be limited, advanced registration is required.
Participants are advised that that there are requirements for physical mobility and that this tour includes walking on uneven ground and navigation of steps on the tour bus.

Registration Link: https://www.caryandmain.com/

Date: Saturday, April 19, 2025
Time: 1:00 – 5:00 pm (approximate return time)
Location: Starting and ending in front of the St. Johnsbury Depot/St. Johnsbury Welcome Center
Cost: $100.00 per person

For Questions, Contact: nekinfo@nekchamber.com or team@caryandmain.com

 

Origins of the VT Maple Creemee

I am happy to share a recently published article I researched and wrote which takes a deeper look into the origins of the maple creemee, the maple flavored soft-serve ice cream or ice milk treat that is popular in Vermont.

The article appeared in the Winter 2025 issue of the Vermont Maple Sugar Maker’s Association newsletter. You can read a PDF copy of the article by clicking on this link or on the adjacent image of the article.

Public Talk on the History of the G.H. Grimm Company – April 23, 2025 – Rutland, Vermont

I am happy to share that on the evening of April 23rd, 2025 in Rutland, Vermont, I will be presenting a public lecture on the history of the G.H. Grimm Manufacturing Company.

This special event is co-sponsored by the Rutland Free Library and the Rutland Historical Society. Although I have previously shared an article on this website about the history of the Grimm Company, this presentation features a deeper look at the Grimm Company and the Grimm family and presents the results of new and more extensive research into the Grimm story.

Of special note is that the lecture will be presented in the Nella Grimm Fox Room at the Rutland Free Library. The Nella Grimm Fox Room is named in honor of Nella Grimm Fox, the daughter of G.H. Grimm, who ran the Grimm Company for over 40 years following the death of her father. Upon her death in 1969, Nella Grim Fox left a substantial financial legacy to the Rutland Free Library which led to the public meeting room being named in her honor.

For more information see this link at the Rutland Free Library website.

————————————-

A Champion of the Maple Syrup Industry: The First 100 Years of the G.H. Grimm Company

  • Wednesday, April 23 – 7:00—8:30 PM
  • Nella Grimm Fox Room
  • Rutland Free Library – 10 Court St, Rutland, VT 05701

This presentation traces the origins and evolution of the G.H. Grimm maple syrup equipment company.  Over its first one hundred years, the Grimm Company, with its signature Champion Evaporator, became the leading manufacturer of maple industry equipment in the United States and Canada. The storyline of the presentation follows the Grimm family and the Grimm Company from its start in Hudson, Ohio, to its relocation and settlement in Rutland, Vermont, and on to the opening of its branch operation to Montreal, Québec. New research presents a detailed look at the lives of the Grimm family in Ohio and Vermont and the impact of the Grimm Company in the history of the maple syrup industry.

Dr. Matthew M. Thomas is an independent researcher and is a leading expert on the history of the maple syrup industry. Dr. Thomas has written two maple history books, Maple King: The Making of a Maple Syrup Empire and A Sugarbush Like None Other: Adirondack Maple Syrup and the Horse Shoe Forestry Company. In addition, he shares his research and many published articles on the website www.maplesyruphistory.com.

This program is brought to you by the Rutland Free Library and Rutland Historical Society.

History of the Québec Round Syrup Can – A New Article in French

By Matthew M. Thomas

I am happy to share a recent article I wrote on the origins and unique history of the use of a round metal can for packing maple syrup in the province of Québec. Unlike the United States and most other Canadian provinces, where syrup was packed in rectangular shaped metal cans for many years, in Québec the use of a round can was introduced in the 1950s and has continued to be used ever since, eventually becoming an iconic cultural symbol identifed with Québec.

The article was published by Fédération Histoire Québec in Volume 30, Number 1 of their imagazine Historie Québec.  As an article focused on a decidely Québecois topic, this article is written in French.  You can download a PDF copy of the article at this link or by clicking on the image or the article above. Or you can view each of the three individual pages of the article below.

Histoire Québec vol. 30, no. 1, page 33
Histoire Québec vol. 30, no. 1, page 34
Histoire Québec vol. 30, no. 1, page 35

For those looking for an English version post about this research and history, please visit these earlier posts from this website:

A Maple Syrup Can Mystery: New Discoveries on the Beginnings of the Iconic Québec Can

Research Update: The Iconic Quebec Round Syrup Can

A History of the Unmistakable Maple Syrup Bottle

Matthew M. Thomas

You can read my latest maple history contribution from the June 2024 issue of the Maple Syrup Digest newsletter at this link or by clicking on the adjacent image of the syrup bottle. The Maple Syrup Digest is the official quarterly publication of the North American Maple Syrup Council.

This article takes another look at the origins and development of the oval-shaped maple syrup bottle with little handle on the neck that is unique to the maple syrup industry. Some readers might recognize that I’ve previously written and posted an article on this website about the history of this unmistakable syrup bottle. This article presents an updated version of this research with a deeper look into where this bottle design came from and the 20th century evolution of glass bottles used for maple syrup.

You can read the article at this link or by clinking on the accompanying images.

 

Embracing Change and Preserving the Past

The Summer 2024 newsletter of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association features an article written by me to launch a new regular feature in the newsletter called “The Maple History Corner.”  I hope to contribute regular articles to the newsletter’s “Maple History Corner” and share bits and pieces of Vermont maple history.

Unlike my usual stories and historical vignettes, this particular article is more of a commentary and words of encouragement to Vermont sugarmakers to preserve and document their own personal maple histories.

You can read the article at this link or by clicking on the image to the left.

Minnesota and the Beginnings of Reverse Osmosis for the Maple Industry

You can read my latest maple history contribution to the Minnesota Maple Syrup Producers’ Association June 2024 newsletter at this link, or by clicking on the image below.

This article looks at the role Minnesota played as the place where the commercial manufacture of reverse osmosis technology for the maple syrup industry got its start.  In 1969, Dean Spatz created a Minnesota-based company called Osmonics, Inc. for the manfacture of reverse osmosis machines and membranes. Maple producers in the 1970s and 1980s gradually began to adopt the technology for concentrating maple sap in making maple syrup. As the only manufacturer at the time, syrup producers relied on Osmonics to help get reverse osmosis off the ground for the maple industry.