CANNING INDUSTRY


     Cleveland had a small cannery, built and operated by the 0'
Neil Brothers and William Belitz. They discontinued operations in
1912, after ten years, and converted the cannery into a feed and
grist mill, which is the present site of the Cleveland Cooperative.

     Late in 1923, members of the Johannes family, John Hubert, Ed
and Nicholas Johannes, who had an interest in the Knellsville
Canning Company of Port Washington, Wisconsin, formed a Corporation
known as the Johannes Pure Food Company and built a canning plant
to the north of the old canning company site. The plant was in
readiness for the pack in 1924 and was equipped with two lines of
machinery for peas. In those early years 60,000 cases of peas was
considered a big pack. In 1926 the necessary equipment to pack
green and wax beans was installed, and beans were packed until 1932
when they were discontinued because they became an uneconomical
item to pack due to supply and demand countrywide. In 1937 a corn
canning line was added.

     The Company continued to pack under the name of Johannes Pure
Food Company through 1938, when conditions forced them to liquidate
and on October 3, 1939, the company was re-organized by Al. W.
Johannes and operated in 1940 as the Cleveland Canning Company.
That year final re-organization was completed, and the corporate
name was changed to Lake Shore Canning Company.   Under the dir-
ection of Al.W. Johannes, the plant was modernized and in the
period from 1942 through 1957, four warehouses were built and a new
corn plant and canning line added.

     In the 1950's production of peas and corn reached a maximum
of 180,000 cases of peas and ?50,000 cases of corn (both cream
style and whole kernel) per year. In the peak years of production
as many as 100 Mexicans and migrant laborers were needed to hand
pick the corn in the fields to provide enough corn for the canning
lines. Local labor was scarce because of the competition for labor
at Kohler, Manitowoc, and Sheboygan. When corn harvesters were in-
troduced in 1952, the labor force in the fields was cut from 100
to 20 people. New corn husking and cutting equipment eliminated
more people so that for the same production of corn the labor force
was cut from a peak of 180 people to 80.

     In 1962 Al W. Johannes died, and the next three years were bad
economically for the canning business. As a result, the plant and
equipment were sold on April 16, 1965 to a group from New Holstein,
namely, A. R. Hipke, G. J. Hipke, John Leibham, and Walt Frisch.
They formed the corporation known as the Hipke Packing Corporation,
and began operating that year. Each year the plant and equip-
ment and field machinery were updated for peak performance and
efficiency. A continuous cooker was installed in 1973 and another
in this Bicentennial year of 1976 along with automatic huskers and
cutters for corn handling. The warehouse and labelling lines were
revamped and a new loading dock for rail cars and tractor trailers
was installed. When A. T. Hipke and Sons, Inc. of New Holstein