The Crescent Manufacturing Company was established in Seattle in 1883 by Albert C. Larsen, as Larsen Extract Company. In 1886, the company was sold and re-named the Crescent Manufacturing Company. Shortly before the Alaskan Gold Rush, the company was sold to J. W. and W. J Kahle. The company’s original location was at 122 S. Jackson, then 315 Occidental Ave, and later moved to Sixth Avenue and Pike Street.
Crescent was most famous for their Mapleine imitation maple flavoring, the first on the market to not change flavor through time and temperature fluctuations. Mapleine was premiered at the Puyallup Fair in 1908. In addition to Mapleine and 75 other imitation extracts, Crescent imported and milled spices, coffee, and nuts. In 1926, the company moved to a plant at Railroad Ave South and South Connecticut Street (later Alaskan Way South and Royal Brougham Way). The Crescent factory of 1927 boasted the most modern communication technology, as well as a variety of spice mills and coffee-roasting equipment.
During the Depression, Crescent was able to retain all employees by implementing across-the-board pay cuts, from owners to employees. During World War II, spices sourced from Asia were unavailable, so Crescent worked to create and market imitation spices. After the war, competitors used Crescent’s imitation spices as a slur against them, but Crescent chose to use them as a marketing tool. In 1957, Crescent debuted the Gold Shield coffee line, but faced stiff competition from major brands. Eventually, they decided to sell Gold Shield to another company. At this time, Crescent also re-packaged their nuts, selling them in cup measurements instead of by “nines” price points. This innovation led them to become leaders in pre-packaged nuts for cooking.
In 1971, Crescent had outgrown its plant at Maynard and Dearborn, and the offices moved to the Hanford Center to give the plant room to expand. In 1989, Crescent was sold to McCormick and Company, and in 1990, Crescent consolidated its factory, laboratory, and offices into one building in Kent, Washington. Mapleine is still produced in limited quantities.
The collection includes an album of photographs of the factory, with accompanying typed descriptions; loose photographs of the Crescent factory, employees and product exhibits; trademark certificates, histories of the company and ephemera. The photo album is embossed on the front “Property of Crescent Manufacturing Co.”. The album contains 22 photographs of the interior workings of the “daylight” (makes use of natural light through large windows on each floor) factory at Railroad South and South Connecticut (now Alaskan Way South and South Royal Brougham), each accompanied by typewritten notes on facing page with handwritten corrections and notations.
View selections from the collection in digital format by clicking on the camera icons in the inventory below.
The collection is open to the public by appointment.
The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Collection on the Crescent Manufacturing Company Plant, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle
Source: Michael Maslan; received March 31, 2005 and December 18, 2009.
Processed by Jessica Warner, 2010.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Caption on page: RR So & Connecticut (note: now Alaskan Way S. and S. Royal Brougham Way.)
Photograph depicts “all the modern equipment, such as dictograph, pneumatic tube systems, private exchange switchboard, dictaphones, and other like devices."
Caption on facing page: “Here the packages of family size are filled, labeled, cartoned, and packed."
Caption: “more than 75 different flavors are produced, as well as colors and many specialties for confectioners, bakers, and ice cream manufacturers."
Caption explains “more than 50,000,000 pieces of printed matter are turned out by the twelve people employed in this department."
Caption notes that “more than 250 meals are served here each day."
Caption describes the factory’s cleanliness and order, the two cardinal principles for the factory operators. Women are described as wearing “fresh white aprons and caps", while men wear “clean khaki overalls".
Caption: “decorated for a celebration"
Caption: “Sales meeting"
Caption: “Made by A. A. Coleman"
Caption: “Made by A. A. Coleman"
On verso: “Feb. 17, 1972"
Caption: “Kohle summer home- Seahurst 1916."
Caption: “The Mapleines, commercial bowling league champions."
Caption: “1st carload shipment of Mapleine."
Text on verso describes Crescent’s efforts to import pepper during pepper shortage.
On verso: “Eatons, Toronto March 1911"
Caption: “ Waco Texas 1920"
Caption: “Dallas Texas 1920"
Caption: “Dallas Texas 1920"
On verso: “Ottawa, Ont. 1923 Sept."
On verso: “Anderson’s Grocery 8th and Pike"
Caption: “Fair, San Francisco, 1914"
On verso: “Salem Fair, Dec. 1918"
On verso: “Miss Fredricks at Turnley’s North Side Market, Spokane at the Cup"
Caption: “April 11 to 18 –25- Tacoma News Tribune"
On verso: “Yakima Republic and Herald Oct. 2 – 1926"
Caption: “Toppenish Wash Mar 29-April 1922"
Caption: “Bellingham exhibit March 8-11-1922"
Caption: “Chehalis Feb 1-4-1922"
Caption: “Centralia June 14-18 1920"
On verso: “Doug and ??? convention Oct 1929"