Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
FRITH RENDERING WORKS
FRITH RENDERING WORKS. The Frith Rendering Works (also known as the Frith Fertilizer Works) was established at EAGLE POINT in 1859 by Thomas E. FRITH. By 1873 the company known as a bone and glue factory had been relocated to the Sageville Road. In October the uninsured plant was destroyed by fire. Along with the two story wooden building, lost in the fire were fifty tons of bone valued at $30 per ton, two tons of glue worth $200, hair and bristles valued at $100 and grease and oil worth $150.00. (1) Eugene T. FRITH, his brother, purchased an interest in the company and later Eugene E. Frith purchased both his father's and uncle's shares and operated the business himself.
In May, 1879 the Dubuque Herald carried an editorial concerning the company. The editorial focused on the company's habit of transporting dead animals and offal through the city in open wagons during warm weather. "The stench from these wagons is terrible." The editorial mentioned that other cities required this kind of work be carried out between midnight and 4:00 a.m. (2)
In 1960 a branch plant was operated in Green, Iowa. Representatives of the company were located in Monticello, Maquoketa, Dumont, Iowa Falls, Charles City, Dyersville, Clear Lake, and Waterloo, Iowa. Others were located in Cuba City and Bloomington, Wisconsin. (3)
In 1965 the company located along Sageville Road was closed by Iowa authorities. Orest Deligiannis, a representative of the company, plead guilty to six of twelve counts of interstate transportation of uninspected meat. The twelve counts were for shipping nearly 39 tons of "4-D" (dead, dying, diseased or disabled animals) meat to Chicago from Dubuque and farms in Wisconsin between September 10, 1964 and May 5, 1965. Three of the counts were for shipping the uninspected meat from the Frith Rendering Works in Dubuque and the other nine counts were for buying it directly from farms in Wisconsin. He was sentenced to two years in jail and fined $15,000.
Deligiannis had told farmers that he raised mink and that the meat would be used for animal feed. Instead it was taken to Chicago where it was sold to restaurants and grocery stores. A charge of feeding raw garbage to swine was filed after state officials found the Frith firm was feeding raw meat from dead animals to a dozen hogs at the rendering works. (4) The plant was sold to become part of DUBUQUE BY-PRODUCTS, INC.
The Deligiannis-Frith case has been cited as one of the major causes for a meat inspection bill passed in the United States Senate in 1967. (5)
The 1916-1917 White's Dubuque County Directory listed north of the city.
The 1953 and 1962 city directory listed Sageville Road R. 1 as the address for Frith Rendering Service.
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Source:
1. "Factory Burned," Dubuque Herald, October 4, 1873, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18731004&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
2. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, May 14, 1879, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18790514&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
3. "Frith Rendering Company Established Here in 1859," (advertisement) Telegraph Herald, July 25, 1960, p. 8
4. "Dubuque Case Played Part," Telegraph Herald, November 29, 1967, p. 16
5. Ibid.