Ballard and Ballard Flour Company (Louisville, Ky.) Records, 1925-1953
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Ballard and Ballard Flour Company (Louisville, Ky.)
Title: Records, 1925-1953
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department.
Size of Collection: 0.46 cubic feet
Location Number: Mss. BB B189
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains financial records and correspondence regarding stocks, shares, and donations received and paid by the Ballard and Ballard Flour Company and their shareholders from 1925 through 1953, including the time during and after their merger with Pillsbury Mills in 1951. The correspondence is between the high executives of the company (or their secretaries) regarding stakes and shares in the company, pay, and taxes.
Familial correspondence is mixed throughout as members of the Ballard family managed the business together. Much of the correspondence is from David Cummins Morton (1878-1949)—son-in-law of Samuel Thruston Ballard—and Thurston Ballard Morton (1907-1982)—son of David Cummins Morton. Also included is correspondence from father and son Gustave Aurelian Breaux (1888-1961) and C. Ballard Breaux (b. 1901).
Related Collections:
Wallace, Paul Maclellan (1900-1972) Papers, 1914-1934 (Bulk: 1924-1926) [Mss. A W193]
Inter-State Investment Company Records, 1887-1927 [Mss. BB I61]
Galt family. Papers, 1828-1955. [Mss. A G179 8]
Haldeman family. Papers, 1843-1985. [Mss. A H159 73]
Historical Note
The Ballard and Ballard Flour Company Incorporated was a miller of wheat flour in Louisville, Kentucky. The company made and distributed Ballard’s Obelisk, self-rising, biscuit, pancake, and buckwheat flour. Ballard and Ballard had several locations over the years, at one point being located at 912 E. Broadway.
The company was established in 1880 as a partnership under the name of Jones, Ballard, & Ballard before being restructured a few years later by brothers Samuel Thruston Ballard (1855-1926) and Charles Thruston Ballard (1850-1918) to become Ballard & Ballard Company. In its first years, the company’s presidents were Samuel Thruston Ballard and another of his brothers, Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston (1858-1946).
Two other significant figures in the company’s history were father and son Gustave Aurelian Breaux (1869-1953) and C. Ballard Breaux (b. 1901). Gustave Aurelian Breaux (1869-1953) was connected with the Ballard and Ballard Company starting ca. 1893 and held many positions for the next 33 years, including director of marketing, treasurer, and president of sales. He retired from his position as vice president in 1926. Gustave’s son C. Ballard Breaux (b. 1901) worked at Ballard and Ballard for a time but lived at least part of his life in New York.
During the early to mid-20th century, David Cummins Morton (1878-1949)—son-in-law of Samuel Thruston Ballard—and Thurston Ballard Morton (1907-1982)—son of David Cummins Morton—were president and vice president of the company. On 12 June 1951, the business was fully acquired by Pillsbury Mills.
References:
Abigail Churchill “Abby” Ballard Stewart (1879-1922) – Find a Grave Memorial
Samuel Thruston Ballard of Louisville, Kentucky (1855-1926). | Ballard of Virginia
Breaux resigns as mill firm officer. (1926, February 2). The Courier-Journal, p. 18.
Gustave breaux, 83, civic and church leader, dies. (1953, August 5). The Courier-Journal , p. 15.
Folder List
Folder 1: Miscellaneous business and personal documents and correspondence, 1925-1929.
Contains financial information and personal correspondence from the President, Vice President, and co-owners of Ballard and Ballard Company.
Folder 2: Miscellaneous advertisements and correspondence, 1932-1937.
Contains general company correspondence, including reference to the Great 1937 Flood, cash assets, and worth.
Folder 3: Miscellaneous business and personal correspondence, 1940-1945.
Contains tax regulation information and correspondence addressed to Gustave A. Breaux.
Folder 4: Miscellaneous business and personal correspondence, 1946-1947.
Contains correspondence regarding stocks and personal letters.
Folder 5: Miscellaneous business correspondence, 1951-1954.
Contains documents regarding stocks and shares as well as the merger with Pillsbury Mills, Inc.
Folder 6: Miscellaneous business correspondence, 1988.
Contains information regarding stocks in Pillsbury Mills, Inc.
Folder 7: Miscellaneous business correspondence, undated.
Contains correspondence regarding the shares on the stock in the company.
Folder 8: Comparison of Ballard and Ballard Company with four other mills, 1935-1946.
Folder 9: Ballard and Ballard Company Proposed Recapitalization, 1946.
Folder 10: Recapitalization counter proposal for Ballard and Ballard, 1947.
Folder 11: Common Stock Valuation, 1947.
Folder 12: Special Comparison – Ballard and Ballard Company Flour Mills of America, 1948.
Binder 13: Documentation of overall finances, shares, and donations, 1948-1953.
Binder listed as “Gift of Gustave A. Breaux to Mildred P. Breaux and C. B. Breaux and contains Reasons for Late Date of Gift, Donor’s Concern about His Personal Finances, General Appreciation and Generosity, Concern of Donor for Health of Donee and Wife, Illness of Donee, and Gift of Shares of Pillsbury Common.”
Subject Headings
Ballard and Ballard Flour Company (Louisville, Ky.)
Breaux, C. Ballard, b. 1901.
Breaux, Gustave Aurelian, 1869-1953.
Business records – Kentucky – Louisville.
Floods – Kentucky – Louisville – 20th century.
Morton, David C. (Cummins), 1878-1949.
Morton, Thruston B. (Thruston Ballard), 1907-1982.
Pillsbury Company.
Stockholders.