Dr. Welch’s grape juice

American physician and dentist, Thomas Bramwell Welch was the first to preserve grape juice with heat treatment in America. At the time, Methodists were strongly opposed to the consumption of alcohol. This made serving wine for communion somewhat hypocritical, a discrepancy that Welch was quick to point out.

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, Pure Grape Juice.

Dr Welch’s son, Charles E. Welch, who was also a dentist, eventually gave up his practice to promote grape juice. In 1893, he founded Welch's Grape Juice Company at Westfield, New York. The product was given to visitors at international exhibitions.

In 1896, Welch’s Fruit Juice Company became too big for one family to handle. To help meet the demand, Charles packed up and moved the company to a factory in New York, where he continued to grow the business.

In 1918 Welch’s created modern jam for World War I rations, calling it “Grapelade.” The Army bought Welch’s entire first production run and returning doughboys demanded it when they got back home.

In 1919, a Welch’s plant was established in Lawton, Michigan, in Van Buren County to help supply the nation’s thirst for unfermented grape juice.

In 1913 Welch's received a powerful endorsement from Woodrow Wilson's Administration, when Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan served grape juice at a state dinner in honor of retiring British Ambassador James Bryce.

In 1956, the company was sold to the 'National Grape Cooperative Association'.
Dr. Welch’s grape juice