Welch Grape Juice Company

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File:Welch-grape-juice.jpg
Postcard of Welch Grape Juice Company in Springdale.

Welch Grape Juice Company built its Southwest regional headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, in 1923.

In 1869 physician and dentist Thomas Bramwell Welch developed a process for making "unfermented sacramental wine" from Concord grapes. The process depends on knowledge of fermentation and Louis Pasteur's recent discovery of pasteurization. Welch serves this "grape juice" instead of wine as communion steward at his church in Vineland, New Jersey. Dr. Welch's grape juice becomes popular nationwide after it is served at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. The juice's visibility increased in 1913 when Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan serves the beverage at a diplomatic event, and the next year when the Navy substitutes Welch's grape juice after outlawing alcohol on its ships.

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