Before W.K. Kellogg became the world's most famous cereal mogul, he began his business life at seven years old; he did odd jobs in order to buy clothes for himself. At 14 years old, he became a broom salesman.

A few years later, he decided to help his brother John run the Battle Creek Sanitarium. The sanitarium administered different types of health therapies, dietetics, and other forms of health principles. That's how the Kellogg's cereal industry got its start.

The brothers came up with a process to make health foods from cereal grains. In 1895, one of their first cereals was Granose Flakes, to “enrich the blood” as it said on the cereal box. In 1898, their first legitimate corn flake cereal debuted: “Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flakes”.

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C.W. Post was a patient at the sanitarium and got a good look at Kellogg's cereal secrets. Once leaving the sanitarium, he began his own company, Post Cereals, and debuted his own corn flakes, “Post Toasties” in 1904.

Needless to say, this ticked of W.K.
So he left the sanitarium and opened his own company in 1906, the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which changed its name later to the Kellogg Company.

In June 1930, he and his colleagues formed the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, where their purpose was for “improving the health, happiness and well-being of children, without discrimination as to race, creed or geographical distribution”.

W.K. (William Keith) Kellogg was born in April 1860 in Battle Creek, and died in Battle Creek on October 6, 1951 at the age of 91.

The photos below show you the inside and outside of his mansion – or “manor” as it is called – at Gull Lake between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. Scroll down and take a look!

“I never, at any period of my life, aspired to become wealthy.....it is my hope that the property that kind Providence has brought me may be helpful to many others, and that I may be found a faithful servant.” - W.K. Kellogg

Inside (& Outside) of the W.K. Kellogg Mansion

LOOK: 40 Discontinued & Special Edition Kellogg's Cereals

Gallery Credit: John Robinson

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