JESSE WILLIAMS

AMERICAN, 1798-1864

In 1851, cheesemaker and farmer Jesse Williams opened the first cheese factory in America. Located in Rome, New York, his pioneering factory produced over 45,000kg of cheese in its first year alone, fivetimes the amount that was made by farmsteads. As a result, Williams became known as ‘the father of factory cheese’ and within the next 15 years, 500 cheese factories had been opened in New York.