Charles William Post
| C. W. Post | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Charles William Post October 26, 1854 Springfield, Illinois |
| Died | May 9, 1914 (aged 59) Santa Barbara, California |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Resting place | Oak Hill Cemetery, Battle Creek, Michigan |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Breakfast cereal magnate |
| Net worth | US$33 million at time of death |
| Children | Marjorie Merriweather Post |
Charles William "C. W." Post (October 26, 1854 – May 9, 1914), was an American inventor, breakfast cereal and foods manufacturer and a pioneer in the prepared-food industry.
Charles William Post, commonly known as "C. W.", was born October 26, 1854 in Springfield, Illinois. He was the son of Charles Rollin Post and the former Caroline Lathrop and grew up in the hometown of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States during Post's boyhood years.
Post graduated from the public schools of Springfield and enrolled at Illinois Industrial University (known today as the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign), where he remained two years before leaving without a degree.
After a brief stay in Independence, Kansas, Post returned to Springfield, where he remained for over a decade working as a salesman and manufacturer of agricultural machinery. During this interval Post invented and patented several farm implements, including a plow, a harrow, and a hay-stacking machine.
In November 1874, Post married Ella Letitia Merriweather; they had one daughter. The couple were later divorced. Post married his second wife, Leila Young, in November 1904.
Post suffered a mental breakdown in November 1885, the result of the stress and overwork which accompanied his job as a farm implement manufacturer. Post made a break with his previous life, moving to the state of Texas in 1886, where he came into association with a group of real estate developers in Fort Worth, who were attempting to establish a new community on the eastern outskirts of a town called Riverside. In 1888, Post began a real estate development of his own in Fort Worth on 200 acres (81 ha) that he had obtained, platting the land for streets and homes and constructing two mills.
The stress of this work again proved too much for Post's constitution, and a second breakdown followed in 1891. Post began a period of extensive travels in search of a cure, coming to take particular interest in the chemistry of digestion. After a period traversing Europe, Post visited the Battle Creek Sanitarium of Battle Creek, Michigan, a facility operated by John Harvey Kellogg. He was inspired to start his own company based upon the dietary products used there.
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