The Newton family behind America's washing machines — and Maytag Blue Cheese.
Frederick Louis Maytag co-founded the Parsons Band Cutter and Self Feeder Company in Newton in 1893, making threshing-machine feeders for farmers. Because the farm-equipment trade was seasonal, the company began building clothes washers — the wooden-tub “Pastime” in 1907, followed by the “Hired Girl” in 1909, the year F. L. Maytag acquired the company and gave it his name.
Maytag grew into one of the most respected appliance makers in the United States and stayed family-connected until Whirlpool Corporation acquired it in 2006.
The 2006 Maytag–Whirlpool acquisition was valued at about $1.7 billion (roughly $2.6 billion including assumed debt). The Fred Maytag Family Foundation reports about $55 million in assets (IRS Form 990). The family's personal wealth is not publicly disclosed.
In 1919 Elmer Henry Maytag bought a cow to supply his family with milk and grew it into a Holstein-Friesian dairy herd. In 1941 his sons Frederick L. Maytag II and Robert Maytag founded Maytag Dairy Farms and, working with Iowa State University researchers, produced the first wheels of Maytag Blue Cheese in October 1941 — still hand-made in Newton.
The Fred Maytag Family Foundation, established in 1945, is among Iowa's leading foundations, concentrating its grants on Newton and Central Iowa across education, health, the arts, and human services. Its gifts include a $1 million endowment for the Critical Care Unit Social Worker Program at UnityPoint Health–Des Moines.
Maytag is based in Newton, Iowa. Appliance company family-run until 2006; Maytag Dairy Farms still family-owned
1893.
Frederick Louis Maytag — founder; also served as an Iowa state senator
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