Joseph W. Green was born in Dayton, Ohio and worked for his father’s cracker company, the Green & Green Co. It was famous for supplying 6.5 million pounds of cracker-like bread, known as hardtack, to American military forces in WWI. The company custom-designed machinery to make special soldered tins that would ensure the product remained fresh and palatable in the worst of conditions.
After the war, the Green family moved into their Oakwood home across from Hawthorn Hill. Soon the company’s Edgemont cracker was its most popular cracker, a product similar to a saltine. Today, Green & Green Co. is best remembered as the originator of a small, square cracker – a cracker. Its orange color and unique flavor comes from paprika and it is the leading selling cracker in the United States. Can you guess its name? Yep! … It’s Cheez-Its.
So where are Cheez-Its made today? In 1931, Joseph Green was president of the American Manufacturing Company, and manager of Loose-Wiles, which later became the Sunshine Biscuit Company. The Sunshine Co. identified itself with the sun symbol and with bringing sunshine into people’s lives. In 1996, Keebler bought Sunshine Biscuit. Today Cheez-Its are made by Kellogg, which acquired Keebler in 2000, but the company still uses the iconic sunshine trademark on every box.
Joseph and Eleanor Green are located in Section 105 Lot 2231 at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum.
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum is located at 118 Woodland Avenue off of Brown Street near the UD Campus. The Woodland Office is open Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 8 am to 12 pm. The Cemetery and Arboretum are open daily from 8 am to 6 pm. The Mausoleum is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. Fore more information call 937-228-3221 or visit the Woodland website.
