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Ask a 'sotan is an occasional series exploring the questions from curious Minnesotans about our state. Have a question about life in Minnesota? 

Hormel, the international food giant that brought the world Spam (the eating kind) and other meaty meals, makes its home in Austin, Minn. But why Minnesota? asks Carol Wobschall of Waseca, Minn.

The answers lie in the writings of a young George Hormel. But first, a little history. 

Hormel was born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1860. His family relocated to Toledo, Ohio, when his father opened a hide-tanning business in 1865. An economic crisis in 1873 led him to leave school at the age of 12 to find work to support the rest of the family.

"It was desperate times. You had to be out working, and you had to do what you had to do," said Holly Johnson, the executive director of the 

At about age 16, Hormel ended up working for an uncle's meatpacking business in Chicago.

He became a hide buyer for Oberne and Hosick in Des Moines, Iowa, in the early 1880s. For seven years, Johnson said, Hormel traveled through Iowa and Minnesota buying hides. 

He seemed to enjoy Austin, a town he frequented, a bit more than others.

Hormel soon tired of traveling, and his letters to family members suggest he felt that he had yet to establish his own success, Johnson said.

"He's a young man at this point, and he's writing to tell his family about his dreams," Johnson said. "He was disappointed in himself and he hadn't started a family, hadn't been working in the industry he wanted. In his mind, he felt that he wasn't accomplished yet."

In a letter to his mother Susanna in August 1887, he writes to his mother just as he's about to settle in Austin as a partner in a butcher shop called Friedrich and Hormel Packing House Market:

In November 1891, Hormel started his own venture, Geo. A. Hormel and Co., which became the giant food corporation.

While its culinary offerings now run from deli meats to chili to Jennie-O turkey, Hormel Foods remains best known for Spam, which first appeared in grocery stores in 1937.

Interestingly, by the time the company invented the famous blue canned brand of cooked pork and ham, 

 from handling the day-to-day operations at the age of 67.

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Matt Mikus

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Hormel, the company that brought the world Spam (the eating kind) and other meaty meals, makes its home in Austin, Minn. The writings of a young George Hormel reveal just why this international food giant ended up here.

Ask a 'sotan: How did George Hormel, grandfather of Spam, get to Minnesota?

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