From the Cooney Archives: THIS DAY IN HISTORY: Did you know … that on February 18, 1926, Johan Ditlev Frederiksen, cheese industry icon, inventor, author, and manager of the Chr. Hansen’s Laboratory in Little Falls and died in Florida? Born and educated in Denmark, Mr. Frederiksen came to Little Falls in 1879. He was very active in the community and helped establish the Pine Crest tuberculosis sanatorium in Salisbury. He will be buried in Church Street Cemetery.”
CHR. HANSEN’S LABORATORY | A BIOSCIENCE COMPANY
This essay, written as a timeline, explores the history of Hansen Island and the last one hundred and fifty years of the Chr. Hansen’s Laboratory. For seventy-nine of those years, from 1879 to 1958, the company was located here in Little Falls on Hansen Island.
THE MID-STREAM ISLANDS OF THE MOHAWK RIVER
The timeline begins with the history of one of the first written documentations of Lock Island, a deed known as the “Indian Deed of July 9, 1722.” This deed included many acres purchased by a small group of German Palatine immigrants as they settled into the Mohawk Valley in the early 1720s.
During that period, we learn that Johan Jost Petrie, one of the first Palatine settlers at Little Falls, had purchased the mid-stream islands in the Mohawk River at Little Falls through the Indian Deed of 1722. The mid-stream islands included Lock (Hansen) Island, Rockton Island, Seeley Island, and Moss Island.
Map Depicting the Mohawk River of the 1790s | Yellow Arrow: Lock / Hansen Island; Orange Arrow: Rockton Island; Red Arrow: Loomis Island; Purple Arrow: Drummond’s Island / Seeley Island; Green Arrow: Goat Island (which was only an island at high tide); Blue Arrow: Rosencrantz Island (In reference to its name: Rev Abraham Rosencrantz was one the first ministers for the old stone Fort Herkimer Church of German Flatts and married General Nicholas Herkimer’s sister, Anna Marie; the Herkimer family had at that time owned the property and operated the c.1725 Portage on the south side of the Mohawk River until the Western Inland Lock Navigation Canal was built in 1795) / Moss Island
It appears that part of the Indian Deed of 1722 land purchases, which were to be given titles granted by the English Crown as part of the Burnetsfield Land Patent of 1725, fell through, for the British granted the title to these mid-stream islands to Captain Peter Winne of colonial Albany on August 18, 1741 (Land Deeds B25/P276). Petrie disputed the title of ownership of the mid-stream islands to the British Crown in 1750.
LOCK ISLAND
As a side note, during the Revolutionary War, when Joseph Brant raided German Flatts in 1781, the wife of Colonel Peter Bellinger, Cordelia, a sister of General Nicholas Herkimer, rowed out to Lock Island with her children, where she hid from the Loyalists for two days. Christopher P. Bellinger, a Little Falls war hero of the War of 1812 at Sackets Harbor, was one of her children.
As we move forward to 1790, we learn that the Ellice Estate held titles to all the land on the north side of the Mohawk River that encompassed the village of Little Falls and had secured the title to Lock Island.
For the year 1869, it is found that Judge Nathaniel Benton, the first village president in 1827 at Little Falls, held the title of Lock Island. In his will, he left the title to the island to his wife Sarah, who in turn willed it to their granddaughter, Catharine Benton Gray, in 1871.
As we approach 1873, we learn that Christian Ditlev Ammentrop Hansen, a pharmaceutical chemist, had opened his first laboratory in Copenhagen, Denmark, to manufacture a pepsin preparation for people with digestive disorders.
THE CHR. HANSEN’S LABORATORY COMES TO AMERICA
As we approach 1873, we learn that Christian Ditlev Ammentrop Hansen, a pharmaceutical chemist, had opened his first laboratory in Copenhagen, Denmark, to manufacture a pepsin preparation for people with digestive disorders. While focusing on enzymes, Hansen soon began experimenting with rennet, an enzyme-rich substance extracted from the fourth stomach of a cow.
Rennet was used to manufacture cheese, as it coagulated the milk so that the watery whey could be drained and the remaining curds could be pressed into cheese. Cow rennet, which came from nursing calves, was found to be unpredictable in cheese making and could ruin a whole batch of cheese, which was a very costly loss to the farmer. Hansen produced a synthetically enhanced enzyme extract in tablet form, sold under the “Junket” label, his trademark for the rennet tablets.
By 1785, Hansen’s rennet tablets continuously produced excellent cheese-making results and had become in high demand within the cheese industry. Hansen began experimenting with the best way to manufacture the quality-assured rennet commercially. At the time, he had also developed a newly formed product, a natural annatto seed-based coloring agent for cheese and butter.
Johan D. Frederiksen, a close friend to Hansen and a chemistry professor at the University of Denmark, emigrated to the United States in 1878 as an agent for the Chr. Hansen’s Laboratory, on behalf of Christian D.A. Hansen.
Frederiksen secured a rental facility in New York City that could be used as a laboratory to manufacture Hansen’s rennet and natural cheese coloring extract, forming the first Chr. Hansen’s Laboratory in the United States.
FREDERIKSEN NAVIGATES THE ERIE CANAL TO LITTLE FALLS
Moving forward to 1879, we find that Frederiksen had outgrown the New York City laboratory and needed space to expand the business. In those days, Little Falls was known throughout the United States as the center of the cheese market. With that knowledge, Frederiksen packed the laboratory into two packet boats and navigated the business up the Erie Canal, relocating to Little Falls.
When the business first came to Little Falls, the laboratory was located in Jacob Zoller’s old stone-cold storage building on the right side of the New York Central train depot on East Mill Street. Zoller was well-known in the cheese industry in the 1860s.
As we continue on the timeline, stopping at 1887, it becomes known that Frederiksen, who had founded the first sugar beet factory in Denmark, had married Matilda Oliver Morse at Little Falls on the 15th of March. During this time, Matilda’s family owned the Morse Book & Stationary Shop on Main Street.
As the Chr. Hansen’s Laboratory business continued to expand, and a larger building was needed; Johan D. Frederiksen purchased Lock Island on behalf of Christian D.A. Hansen. The transaction for the 2.20-acre property was for the sum of $1,100. on October 6, 1890, from the estate of Judge Nathanial Benton’s granddaughter, Catherine Benton Gray. (Land Deeds B144/P306)
Initially, the island was only a few feet above water level, creating the need for a stone retaining wall. A twenty-foot-high retaining wall was built surrounding the island’s perimeter, with the rock used for the construction being blasted from the Mohawk River’s riverbed.
On November 19, 1890, during the construction of the retaining wall, a 35-foot section of stone suddenly collapsed without warning. Three workmen suffered severe injuries and were extracted from the stone rubble.
By 1891, the company had built a $1,000 suspension bridge to access the newly built laboratory on the island. In 1892, the village constructed a bridge to the island from Elizabeth Street at the cost of $15,000. Soon after, Lock Island became known as Hansen Island, and the bridge became known as Hansen Avenue.
The Frederiksen’s owned property at 686 East Monroe Street, known as Sunny Farms, and enlarged their family to include five children. Their second-born child, Felix, a 1909 Little Falls High School graduate, earned a chemistry degree from Cornell University and began experimenting with cheese making on the family farm.
In 1914, the Chr. Hansen Laboratory became an incorporated company in the United States.
By 1924, Felix held the titles to a few patents for cheese razors, knives, and shears.
A CAVE OF SANDSTONE AND THE MANUFACTURING OF BLUE CHEESE
Advancing to the year 1930 on the timeline, we learn that Felix, as a 38-year-old cheese producer, had journeyed from Little Falls to Minnesota, Wisconsin, in search of caves made of St. Peter Sandstone, as they are known to be abundant in that state due to deposits of sandstone from the last Ice Age.
Felix purchased a few abandoned caves near the village of Faribault, where German immigrants initially carved the caves in the 1850s for beer making. The sandstone caves provided the ideal humidity and temperature conditions, allowing native green-blue molds to flourish, which are used in the process of making blue cheese.
For the year 1931, we discovered that Felix had manufactured the first American blue cheese within the Faribault sandstone caves. “Felix Blue Cheese,” produced in Felix’s honor in those same Faribault Caves, can be purchased today through mail order from the Caves of the Faribault Cheese Company.
FREDERIKSEN AS COMPANY PRESIDENT, TREASURER, AND MANAGER
Throughout his life at Little Falls, Johan Ditlev Frederiksen became a citizen of this country as a Democrat and served on the board of the Herkimer County Supervisors and the school board. He was also a past president of the Merchants & Manufacturers Association, the NY State Dairymen’s Association, and the Herkimer County Tuberculosis Society at the Pinecrest Institute in Salisbury Center, NY.
Frederiksen served for forty-eight years as vice president, treasurer, and manager of the Chr. Hansen’s Laboratory.
THE MANUFACTURING OF PUDDINGS AND TEA
Over the years, the laboratory’s primary focus at the Little Falls facility was manufacturing rennet and natural coloring agents for cheese and butter.
Frederiksen came upon the idea to expand the laboratory’s market to include manufactured products that would appeal to American women, with the company acquiring the Junket brand desserts at Little Falls. The desserts were first known as “Nesnah,” which was Hansen spelled backward. The deserts were manufactured in powdered form that came pre-sweetened, flavored, and colored. When combined with milk, the mix produced puddings and custards that could easily be made at home in one’s kitchen.
As the business grew, different products, such as starter cultures of lactic acid bacteria, were added. These microorganisms were used in the food industry to manufacture yogurt, sour cream, and cream cheese.
By 1929, the cheese market had left the Mohawk Valley for the state of Wisconsin, and Hansen opened a new laboratory factory in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
According to the Cooney Archives: This Day In History …” On the 22nd of December in 1935, A & P recipes advertised for the week across the country by the supermarket chain included a dessert of Caramel Junket with Maple Syrup. Junket is made in Little Falls by Chris. Hansen Laboratories.”
According to the Cooney Archives: This Day In History …” On April 28, 1939, Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Ingrid of Denmark traveled to Little Falls by a special railroad car to visit the Hansen plant. A crowd of one thousand people welcomed them along with 200 employees atop the factory roof waving American and Danish flags.”
According to the Cooney Archives: This Day In History …” On December 12, 1941, during the WWII era, about 500 Little Falls area young men gathered at the American Legion to sign up for work in some branch of service in the local defense program. They expressed willingness to do “anything, anytime.” A hundred men at Hansen’s also volunteered.”
As business increased, other products were added to the junket foods brand, and the laboratory was expanded in 1916, 1938, and 1949.
In 1951, a modern warehouse was built on New York State Route 5, west of the city, which is today marked by the “Salada Tea Water Tower.”
According to the Cooney Archives: This Day In History …” On June 22, 1952, WLFH began broadcasts today at 1230 on the dial with Robert Earle as station manager. In addition to local programming, comedy, mystery, and news programs will be relayed from the Mutual Broadcasting System. Included in the congratulatory messages will be one from Johannes Hansen, chairman of the board of Chr. Hansen’s Laboratories.”
According to the Cooney Archives: This Day In History …” On August 19, 1953, Chr. Hansen’s Laboratory celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding at a banquet at the Mohawk Valley Country Club attended by 190 people. Company chairman Johannes Hansen, accompanied by his wife, came over from Copenhagen, Denmark to deliver the principal address at the affair.”
According to the Cooney Archives: This Day In History …” On October 1, 1958, the operations of the “Junket” Brand Foods Division Salada-Shirriff-Horsey, Inc. acquired the property of Hansen’s Laboratory, Inc. for making tea. The Little Falls facility and warehouse partnered with the Salada Tea operations in Boston, in the Salada-Junket Division of this international packaged food company, Redco Foods. At that time, the Chr. Hansen’s Laboratory left Little Falls and expanded their Milwaukee, Wisconsin facility.”
Redco Foods ended its Red Rose and Salada Tea production at the Little Falls facility in December 2018.
THE CONCLUSION OF THE CHR. HANSEN’S LABORATORY
Fast-forward to 2024, and the timeline for this essay on the history of Chr. Hansen’s Laboratory concludes as we learn that after operating for the past one hundred and fifty years under the original name, this past January, the company merged with Novozyemes, a company that conducts research, development, and the production of industrial enzymes, microorganisms, and biopharmaceutical ingredients.
The newly formed company, Novonesis, is marketed as a bioscience company with laboratories worldwide. It promotes natural ingredient solutions for the food, nutritional, pharmaceutical, and agricultural industries and has the world’s most extensive collection of bacteria. The company continues to manufacture rennet and natural food colorings, amongst its other products.
14 North Ann Street | First Hospital at Little Falls, New York | Established 1893 | Dr. Eveleth holding is the horse's reins.