On July 7, 1880, Otto Frederick Rohwedder—the man who made sliced bread possible—was born in Davenport, Iowa. The son of German immigrants, Rohwedder started out as a jeweler, running three successful shops. But his curiosity led him to inventing, and eventually, to an idea that would change how we eat bread forever.
After selling his stores, Rohwedder poured everything into developing an automatic bread-slicing machine. A devastating fire set him back, destroying his early designs, but he didn’t give up. By 1927, he secured a patent, and on his 48th birthday—July 7, 1928—the first pre-sliced loaf was sold at the Chillicothe Baking Company.
Sliced bread quickly became a household staple, and Rohwedder later sold his patent to a Bettendorf-based company, where he worked until retirement. A true Iowa original, Rohwedder’s legacy lives on every time we open a loaf.
