I’ve invented stories for lonely buildings my entire life. But my imagination could never have conjured up…a pickle station? When a good friend and fellow historian mentioned such a creature, I begged him for more information. I don’t know why a pickle station seems so curious and intriguing – I’ve documented historic tobacco warehouses, slaughterhouses, and stockyards – so why shouldn’t the cucumber have its day?
The former Heinz Pickle Station in Richelieu, Kentucky.
Heinz, that purveyor of ketchup and other condiments, was once a behemoth in the pickle world. Founded in 1869 by Henry John Heinz, the company grew quickly, and by 1875, had an annual capacity of “fifteen thousand barrels of pickles, and fifty thousand barrels of vinegar… and a commitment to pickle the produce of some six hundred acres of cucumbers near Woodstock, Illinois.”* Tomato ketchup wasn’t introduced until 1876 – and was eclipsed by the pickle for decades.
Apparently young children inside pickles was a surefire marketing technique once upon a time.
As the company grew, more producers of cucumbers were needed – and so at some point, the Heinz Company established a pickle station in a little community known as Richelieu** (pronounced “Rich-Lou”) that straddles the Butler and Logan county lines (and is just a stone’s throw from the Warren county line).
Section of a 1914 topographic map showing Richelieu, Kentucky.
The front gable, frame building may seem unprepossessing to a vehicle passing by – but it represented some sort of security for farmers in the area. I haven’t been able to find much in the way of secondary sources about how and why Heinz operated its cucumber buying system, but in the 1950s, local farmers were paid 10 cents a bushel at the Richelieu pickle station.
It could have been any old garage, or former store…but it’s a pickle stand.
Like any other agricultural product, the cucumbers had to be a certain size, and meet a certain grade. In the 1980s, for example, cucumbers sold in Richardsville, Kentucky (in Warren County) were divided into four grades. After unceremoniously being dumped on a conveyor belt, the cucumbers were sorted, with the #1 grade bringing $18 per 100 weight.
A 1940s advertisement for Heinz Pickles.
The pickle buying station (this appears to have been its common name in Warren County) was only open on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. According to a former cucumber grower, 1/2 acre of cucumbers was more profitable than three acres of tobacco. But of course, with picking and selling, Saturday was the only day off each week.
The facade of the Richelieu pickle stand.
I’ve asked around in Central Kentucky, and so far, I haven’t turned up any other former pickle station – but I doubt it was a practice confined to southwest Kentucky. I’ll keep my eyes peeled when I find myself wandering down a rural road, and maybe visions of fields of cucumbers will dance in my head…
*Robert C. Alberts, “The Good Provider.” American Heritage, volume 23, issue 2, 1972.
** I have no idea who named the community and why. Sadly, Robert Rennick did not cover it in his Kentucky place name series.
Many, many thanks to J. Eric Thomason, Gardens to Gables south-central Kentucky correspondent, for introducing me to the pickle stand, and sharing his knowledge and photos.
So where were the canning factories? Did Heinz start as a monopoly? We did an historic context on canning in Delaware and they started out highly decentralized in homes literally and became more centralized into a few large factories over time. In the late 19th-early 20th century when the canning moved to the mid-west following large scale agriculture the large canning corporations in Delaware shifted to chickens having their contract farmers grow chicks rather than peas, beans and tomatoes. Fascinating story.
You know, I don’t know. There’s a whole landscape associated with agricultural products about which I know nothing – my research interests are usually focused on the farm where everything gets its start! The most work I’ve done on the subject was in Louisville (Butchertown and Phoenix Hill).
That is pretty cool to know my in-laws own this piece of property now.
Interesting! Never heard of a pickle stand.
Me neither – and my dad hadn’t either. Guess they weren’t common in either Montgomery or Marion counties!
Great story. Great blog. Nice to have field correspondents. I often wondered how you came up with some of the articles given their wide geographical areas. Keep doing this work. Love it.
Thanks – glad you enjoyed it! Actually, this is only the second post I’ve written about a place I’ve never been. I travel all across Kentucky for work (and personal pleasure)- but I do reply on all sorts of folks to let me know about preservation emergencies or interesting stories in their neck of the woods. Then I make a visit. Thanks again for reading.
How do they pronounce Richelieu in that part of the world? Loved this story!
“Rich” as in being wealthy “Lou” as in Mary Lou
Rich-Lou
Its pronounced Richlou. My daddy and his family was from there. It sems most were our relatives back then.
It’s pronounced Rich-loo
Thanks once again for an interesting article! I love your blog and all the research you put into it!
Thanks so much for reading!
I grew up not far from Richelieu, and never knew that was there.
RICH-LOU IS THE PRONOUNCIATION.
It’s pronounced Rich-loo
I live next door to The pickle house is what we call it
I live next-door to the pickle house that is what we always called it
Directly across the road in front of the Pickel Station once stood the” Wal-Wart” of those days or so I was told. I remember the store building being quite large for sure. It was torn down sometime in the 1990’s I think.
Too bad the general store, blacksmith shop and post office are gone. I grew up there and we were something at one time.
I lived in this community as a child,I played inside this pickle stand&across the street was the old general store,my stepfather bought the land and property,we lived in a house across the road.great memories.
My Father was the Preacher at the tiny white Church at Richelieu! I beleive it’s still in the Family’s of the Church name on the title!