“Cracker capital of the country” might have become a local motto 11 decades ago if a Danish immigrant would have been allowed to operate and expand his thin biscuit-baking business.

Charles Jorgensen came to Albert Lea in 1870 at the age of 21. He evidently had been trained as a baker in Denmark, and within a few years was operating a business on what’s now South Broadway Avenue. Jorgensen’s Bakery became known as the place of the dime breakfasts — coffee and rolls.

In 1892, the Danish-born baker purchased a lot on East William Street just across the alley from the present Shoff Building (now the site of a city parking lot). He constructed a building, purchased the most modern equipment then available, and started to make cakes, cookies and crackers. Ingredients such as wheat from Missouri and molasses from Louisiana were purchased in railcar lots for what soon evolved into a successful regional bakery. His crackers were sold in bulk and barrel quantities to area grocery stores and eating establishments.

However, the creation and expansion of his firm, the Albert Lea Cracker Company, was being carefully watched by several larger competitors located in the eastern part of the nation. These firms were part of what was then called the “cracker trust.” And like the oil and gasoline business, beer brewing, and other retail activities, the larger cracker companies were determined to eliminate their smaller competitors in order to create a more complete trade monopoly.

By 1898, the local cracker factory employed 15 people and was worth about $10,000. Crackers were being sold for four to five cents a pound and the firm was making a profit.

Then the “cracker trust” made Jorgensen an offer he couldn’t refuse. The Albert Lea Cracker Company was sold to the trust in 1898 for $25,000. The sale became effective at noon, and three hours later all the employees had been terminated. Production ceased, and the price of crackers in the area doubled within a few days.

One of Irv Sorenson’s illustrated “Hi-Lites and Shadows of the Past and Today,” originally published by the Tribune in 1958 explained, “The plant was locked up but held ready if someone should start a (cracker) factory in competition. None dared to compete, so about three years later a man was sent to town (by the trust) to destroy every bit of machinery costing thousands of dollars. All was reduced to scrap iron. A local business man offered $500 for some of the machinery and his offer was refused.”

Yet, what Jorgensen made from the sale of his cracker company may have allowed him to become involved in another local venture. In 1899, he joined with William A. Morin and C.W. Ransom to build a new hotel at the corner of South Broadway Avenue and East College Street. Right after the turn of century, Jorgensen bought out his partners and took over ownership and operations of the Hotel Albert.

Jorgensen was active in local political life, serving as an alderman and as a member of several city commissions. He died on Dec. 15, 1938.