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History: Clabber Girl traces its roots to 1850, when brothers Francis and Herman Hulman opened Hulman & Co., a dry goods business, in downtown Terre Haute. Within a few years, Herman Hulman developed his first baking powder recipe—a mixture of sour milk and baked fireplace ash called “clabber”—and worked for more than 40 years to perfect it. (The current ingredients are cornstarch, sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum sulfate and monocalcium phosphate.)
Rise of an Indiana business powerhouse: In its early years, the baking powder was sold as Milk Brand and Clabber Brand before Tony Hulman Jr., who years later purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, changed the name in 1923 to Clabber Girl and began a nationwide advertising campaign to increase product sales.
Ownership change: In 2019, Hulman & Co. sold Clabber Girl Corp. to Parsippany, New Jersey-based B&G Foods Inc. for $80 million in cash. Despite the change in ownership, Clabber Girl baking powder, baking soda and corn starch are still produced in Terre Haute. The company also owns the Davis, Hearth Club, Rumford and Royal baking powder, baking soda and cornstarch brands. Clabber Girl makes gelatin, mousse, puddings and pie fillings under the Royal brand name and sells coffee through Rex Roasting Co.
Power of advertising: Since the 1930s, drivers headed toward Terre Haute on U.S. 40 have been greeted by a 44-foot-long billboard touting the city as “the home of Clabber Girl Baking Powder.” Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology took over ownership of the sign in 2017 when it acquired more than 1,100 acres of land from the Hulman family. It is believed to be the oldest billboard in Indiana.
Address: 123 N. Ninth St., Terre Haute
Website: clabbergirl.com
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
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