Wilson's Corn King Bacon

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Wilson's Corn King Bacon is a premium brand that has its roots in Chicago's notorious stockyards of the early 1900s. Thomas E. Wilson (1868-1958) worked his way up from railroad car checker to president during his 25 year career at the southside's Morris & Co., but it was his subsequent role at struggling New York-based meat packing company Saltzberger & Sons (S&S) which stamped his name on the bacon. Wilson moved the headquarters to Chicago's Union Stock Yark and renamed the company Wilson & Co, Inc. in 1918.

Not letting anything go to waste, Wilson's side project as president of the Ashland Manufacturing Company (1915-1918) used animal by-products from its slaughterhouses to make tennis racket strings, violin strings and surgical sutures. Later renamed Thomas E. Wilson Company (Wilson Sporting Goods), the company expanded to include all sorts of sporting equipment.