Small Missouri Town is the Home of Sliced Bread

Many towns in Missouri have nicknames.  Some are unofficial, some are unrepeatable in polite company (!?!), and some are official as the locals have embraced the label. Chillicothe, Missouri is one of those small Missouri towns with an unusual nickname…”The Home of Sliced Bread”.

Chillicothe, Missouri

Almost one hundred years ago (1928) the Chillicothe Baking Company started selling loaves of bread pre sliced. In 1928 this was revolutionary. No more uneven slices, no more crumbs lying everywhere. There’s a reason that the phrase “Greatest thing since sliced bread” is still used even though almost nobody still alive remembers pre-sliced loaves.

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St. Joseph jeweler Otto Rowhedder built the first machine to slice bread, and Chillicothe Baker Frank Bench bought the first one. A St. Louis baker named Gustav Papendick bought the second one, and soon after every bakery wanted one and sliced bread became the rage.

Sliced Bread Mural Downtown Chillicothe

The building where those first loaves were sliced by machine is still standing and is a Chillicothe, Missouri welcome center. Plus, Sliced Bread Day is celebrated every year. This year it's on June 7^th, with a bread baking contest, trolley rides, concerts, a 5k walk/run and more.