{"id":554,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:36","latitude":39.41699349899557347498557646758854389190673828125,"longitude":-86.143552991964583043227321468293666839599609375,"title":"Rider Canning Company","subtitle":"The Home of Red Gold Tomatoes","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/b765975cccd210f53a9b8cb9ba0ced88.jpg","address":"750 E Park St, Trafalgar, IN 46181","all_locations":[],"zoom":7,"creator":["David Pfeiffer"],"description":"In 1930, Kenneth Rider and William Switzer, the owners of the Hoosier Canning Company, opened a factory on the east side of Trafalgar, near the Big Four railroad tracks. A fire on December 22, 1930 caused substantial damage, but the factory was rebuilt in time for the 1931 season. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nBy the mid-1930s, the partnership between Rider and Switzer ended and the company became the Rider Canning Company. The company canned tomato products and eventually sold beans and other produce under the new brand name: “Red Gold.” Branding that emphasized fresh, ripe produce was crucial to gaining consumer trust in canned produce, which can’t be seen, touched, or tasted through the tin can.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nAnother devastating fire on December 7, 1954 caused an estimated $200,000 in damages and required firefighters from eight different departments to extinguish. Once again, new buildings replaced the destroyed ones in time for the 1955 season. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nBy the 1950s, one of the challenges for Midwestern canning companies was competing with companies in California where the climate could support multiple canning seasons. In an effort to stay open year round, Rider Canning Company became a co-packer for the Hi-C Division of Minute Maid in 1965. They packed and processed produce grown elsewhere and shipped to Trafalgar. This allowed the factory to be open in the winter when it would normally be idle. Co-packing both made the factory much more profitable and meant it employed people all year rather than seasonally. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nJack Rider took over from his father and managed the company until 1969 when he stopped production. In 1970 the Orestes Company, a cannery in Madison County, bought the Red Gold brand. They began using that name as the company’s brand name and is still seen in stores today. In 1972, Jack Rider sold the canning company to Penny Products, Inc. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nIndiana Architectural Plywood now occupies the land where Rider Canning once stood, but Red Gold Drive is still the name of a nearby road in Trafalgar. Red Gold as a brand has grown exponentially in the past 40 years. It still relies heavily on Indiana growers to produce their wide range of canned tomatoes and other products.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"You have probably seen Red Gold canned tomatoes, sauces, and even ketchup in your grocery store. What you may not know is that the brand originated in Trafalgar, Indiana, one of the smallest communities in Johnson County that boasted a canning company.","website":"","related_resources":[],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/b765975cccd210f53a9b8cb9ba0ced88.jpg":{"id":2609,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Stokely Van-Camp Factory. 1949","description":"Attendees of the 1949 Vegetable Growers Association of America convention touring the Stokely-Van Camp canning company in Indianapolis. This is another Indiana canning company that would have had to adapt to compete with California companies, where the climate permitted multiple growing seasons. | Indiana Historical Society | 1949 | Larry Foster","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/b765975cccd210f53a9b8cb9ba0ced88.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/fdb461e5508274824e8b87ee6bf41ab9.jpg":{"id":2610,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Rider Packing Company in Seymour, 1925","description":"The canning machinery at the Rider Packing Company in Seymour, Indiana. Workers at the Rider Company would have used this kind of machinery for canning. | Bass Photo Co Collection, Indiana Historical Society | 1925","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/fdb461e5508274824e8b87ee6bf41ab9.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/6ade1ca81e88cf4f79cf97aa7cdc7089.jpg":{"id":2611,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Labeled canning machine, 1925","description":"This photo of the Indiana Canning Machine Company labels each part of machinery. Machinery here includes a washer, catter and separator, seeder, pulper, writer, and finisher.  | Bass Photo Co Collection, Indiana Historical Society | 1925","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/6ade1ca81e88cf4f79cf97aa7cdc7089.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/49e636a66fed300a8a6d96c93de49b25.jpg":{"id":2612,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"1968 Rider Company Fire","description":"The Rider Company suffered multiple fires since it opened in 1930. These photos from The Daily Journal shows the damage caused by the 1968 fire. Crowds of people from the Trafalgar area gathered to watch over 80 firemen put out the blaze. | 1968 | The Daily Journal","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/49e636a66fed300a8a6d96c93de49b25.jpg"}}}