Butter vs. Oleo Margarine

It’s the holidays and that means lots of folks are baking sweets for family and friends. But will you use butter or margarine in your recipes?

Until the late 19th century, that wasn't an option. Due to food shortages in Europe, particularly of edible fats, the need for a butter substitute prompted the development of margarine. By 1869, Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès, a French scientist and inventor, developed a complex process using beef fat to create a palatable butter substitute.

From the start, margarine caused a great deal of suspicion and was subject to regulation.

In the 1880s and 1890s, most states, including Wisconsin, passed legislation prohibiting the manufacture and sale of margarine. Despite regulations, the inconsistent quality of butter available gave margarine a foothold with consumers. In 1902, Senator Joseph Quarles of Kenosha addressed the U.S. Senate, stating: “Things have come to a strange pass when the steer competes with the cow as a butter maker.” The senator was of course, referring to the use of animal fat obtained from slaughter houses to make margarine.

Food rationing during World War II changed everything. Though fats in general were rationed, butter required more ration points than margarine.

War Ration Book used by Charles & Elsie Bairstow of Waukegan, 1942. Dunn Museum 92.8.36.

War ration stamps, 1942. Dunn Museum 92.8.36

By the end of the war, margarine was a familiar sight on American dinner tables, and it had lost much of its stigma.

Curt Teich Company postcard (above) featuring Miss Nu-Maid and Grandpa promoting Oleo margarine, 1948. Nu-Maid was a popular brand of margarine and "Grandpa" had a radio show "advising housewives to buy 'Table-Grade' Nu-Maid." Curt Teich Co 8BH559.

By the 1950s, every state, except Wisconsin, repealed its ban on colored margarine. (yellow coloring was added to margarine to make it more pleasing, and more butter-like to consumers). So, it became a feature of Wisconsin life to “smuggle” margarine into the state.

Stores and gas stations along the Illinois-Wisconsin border advertised Oleo and kept large inventories of the product to accommodate the Wisconsin demand.

January 1966 photo (above) of store run by William Dooper on Route 41 and Route 173 in Lake County, Illinois. Gas stations near the State Line catered to Wisconsin residents who made the trip to Illinois just to buy Oleo margarine. The gas stations made more money selling margarine than they did selling gas. Photo from private collection. 

In the 1960s, it was estimated that some service stations near the state line sold as much as a ton of margarine per week to Wisconsin customers.

In the end, public preference for margarine, the impossibility of enforcing the law, and the loss of revenue led Wisconsin to repealing its anti-margarine laws. In 1967, for the first time since 1895, Wisconsin residents could buy margarine legally to make those special holiday recipes.

To quote Julia Child, who famously championed butter when it was so very out of fashion: "If you're afraid of butter, as many people are nowadays, just put in cream!"

- Diana Dretske, Curator ddretske@lcfpd.org

Charles E. Bairstow

Recently, while arranging photographs in the archives' files, I became re-aquainted with a series of Spanish-American War portraits featuring Charles E. Bairstow (1880-1958) of Waukegan.

The photographs were donated to the museum in 1962 by Bairstow's widow, Elsie Ferguson Bairstow, and portray a youthful Charles and his friends as they were about to head off to war.





Photo of Charles Bairstow (right standing) with Waukegan High School football, classmates Raymond Lindson, Willie Putnam and Julius Balz, 1898. This was possibly the last high school portrait of the friends.

The Spanish-American War is a blip on the radar of American history, lasting only from April to August, 1898. The outcome of the war between the United States and Spain was that the U.S. gained control of Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

More significantly to Lake Countians, the war was the reason for the establishment of the Naval Training Center Great Lakes in North Chicago. The U.S. Navy figured prominently in the war, and the U.S. Navy Department decided to establish a new site for training sailors. Because of the number of recruits coming from the Midwest, a site in that region was suggested. Illinois Congressman George E. Foss and Chicago businessman Graeme Stewart were key in the campaign to locate the training center, and Chicago businessmen donated the land. Construction of the base began in 1905, and the dedication was held in 1911.

This group portrait, taken on June 9, 1898, includes (standing left to right) Charles Bairstow, Philip H. Kinsley, Brown Thacker, (seated left to right) Ben Thacker and Gray Detweiler.

An informal photograph taken in 1898, possibly by Charles Bairstow, on board a ship (standing) Ben Thacker, Brown Thacker, Phil H. Kinsley, (seated) Gray Detweiler and Jackson.

This portrait (left) is one of my most favorite in the archives' collections. The composition, clarity and charm of the portrait is extremely engaging, and I believe reveals a deep friendship between Herbert Amet (seated) and Charles Bairstow.

Herbert was the younger brother of inventor, Edward Amet, who is known for his work in the early motion picture industry, and who created movies about the Spanish-American War.





Charles Bairstow married Elsie Ferguson in November 1904 in one of the "biggest church weddings of the year."

Interestingly, Charles also served in World War I and World War II.