Digital Repository

Gail Borden Jr.

Gail Borden Jr. was undaunted by failure. In the 1840s he built a wagon meant to travel on land and water but did neither successfully. His nutritional biscuits made from dehydrated meat and flour were unpalatable. Yet Borden kept at it. In the 1850s, he developed a way to condense milk—and this time, succeeded on a grand scale.

Image: Portrait of Gail Borden Jr. by Atlantic Publishing & Engraving Co. N.Y. From The Cyclopaedia of American Biography, The Press Association Compilers, Inc.: New York, 1918.

Audio: Houston Public Media

Portrait of Gail Borden Jr.