Former Welch Grape Juice Company Administration Building

Westfield, New York

The Welch Grape Juice Co.

A Ghost Sign (faded ads on brick) Today

Thomas Bramwell Welch (1825-1903) and his son, Charles Edgar Welch(1852-1926) were from Vineland, New Jersey.  The Welch's first pasteurized Concord grape juice in 1869 as an alternative to fermented wine for church communion services.  Welch's Grape Juice was originally marketed as Dr. Welch's Unfermented Wine.  Thomas Welch was a Methodist minister and heavily involved in the Underground Railroad moving slaves up from the south and into Canada.  He was against drinking alcohol and a prohibitionist working to reduce or end the sale of alcoholic beverages.  He, along with the Methodist Church, thought the consumption of alcohol as a bad thing and was opposed to using wine for communion, but substituted unfermented grape juice, instead. Thomas Welch became a dentist settling in Vineland, NJ where he built a successful dental practice.  He had seven children with Charles going into the field of dentistry along with Thomas' daughter, Emma.  

Thomas Bramwell Welch

Thomas Welch was fascinated by Louis Pasteur and in 1869, Welch invented a method of pasteurizing grape juice so that fermentation was stopped and the drink was non-alcoholic.  He persuaded local churches to adopt this non-alcoholic wine for communion services, calling it "Dr. Welch's Unfermented Wine".  In 1869, Thomas and Charles Welch started the Welch Dental Supply Company along with a dental journal.  The grape juice was a sideline project where the industry slowly grew until 1890 when Thomas and Charles Welch founded the Welch Grape Juice Company. Thomas retired and Charles devoted his efforts to the company while retiring from dentistry.  

 From dentists to grape juice moguls.  It was quite a trip!

Charles Edgar Welch

Eventually, cute ads like the one below appeared on television starring this cute kid.

Welch's Television Ad

Circa 1994

with

Travis Tedford

Travis was born on August 19, 1988 in Dallas, Texas. Travis became a bank teller in his early 20s after his acting career ended.  His Welch's Grape Juice & Jelly ad won him the organization's Television Commerical Award for Outstanding Young Performer.  Though his acting days are over, Travis has left a meaningful imprint on the entertainment industry. In 1994, Welch Foods Inc. featured Travis in its grape juice commerical making the Texas native the first face of the American food company's advertising-spokes-kid campaign.  His professional acting career kicked off that same year.

Travis Tedford, Today

Sidenote: Welch's Grape Juice Company headquarterss relocated to Concord, Massachusetts in 1983 from Westfield, New York.  The Chess Family Farm in Ripley, New York have been grape farmers for 7 generations.  They have 65 acres of Niagara grapes.  

"Some of our vineyards are as old as 100 years."

Mary Beth Chess