Gorton's of Gloucester - Gorton's History At-A-Glance

Gorton's History At-A-Glance

• 1849 – John Pew & Sons emerges as an official company
• 1874 – Slade Gorton & Company is founded
• 1875 – “Gorton’s” becomes a registered trademark
• 1889 – Gorton’s codfish becomes the first record of nationally advertised fish and Gorton’s codfish becomes a household word. Gorton’s billboards line railroads and roads across the United States
• 1899 – Slade Gorton & Company patents the Original Gorton Fish Cake
• 1906 – Gorton-Pew Fisheries is founded
• 1926 – Gorton-Pew introduces Gorton’s Ready-to-Use Codfish in a can
• Late 1950s - Gorton’s Research Laboratory achieved a revolutionary new frozen process, exclusive under the brand name of Gorton’s of Gloucester, Inc., known as the Fresh-Lock Process. The “Fresh Lock” process was patented in 1963
• 1957 – Gorton-Pew Fisheries name changes to Gorton’s of Gloucester
• 1963 – Gorton’s acquires BlueWater Sea Foods, a Canadian brand
• 1964 – The Gorton’s Fisherman first appears on a Gorton’s box, which was a blue silhouette for many years until changing to a 3D color illustration in 1995
• 1965 – Gorton’s of Gloucester becomes The Gorton Corporation
• 1968 – Gorton’s merges with General Mills as a wholly owned subsidiary
• 1978 – First production of the Gorton’s jingle “Trust the Gorton’s Fisherman from Gorton’s of Gloucester”, later shortened to “Trust the Gorton's Fisherman”
• 1995 – Unilever purchases Gorton’s from General Mills
• 2001 – Unilever sells Gorton’s and BlueWater Seafoods to Nippon Suisan (USA), Inc.
• 2005 – Gorton's removed trans fat from its entire line of products one year ahead of the January 1, 2006 U.S. federal deadline