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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Dot Foods, Inc. | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Private - Family owned |
| Industry | Food redistribution |
| Founded | 1960 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Key people | Dick Tracy (CEO) George Eversman (President) |
| Revenue | $10.6 billion (2024)[1] |
Number of employees | 6,300 |
| Website | www |
Dot Foods is the largest foodservice redistribution company in the United States.[2] Dot offers over 123,500 products from 1,530 food industry manufacturers.[3] Dot consolidates those products and delivers in less-than-truckload (LTL) quantities to distributors nationwide on a weekly basis. Distributors can purchase a combination of products with various temperature requirements as long as the combined total weight is at least 5,000 pounds.[4]
Dot Foods was founded in 1960, by Robert F. Tracy, and was originally named Associated Dairy Products to reflect the nature of the business at the time. Tracy began the enterprise by selling an assortment of dairy products from the back of the family station wagon.[2] Tracy was originally from Jerseyville, Illinois, and moved to Mount Sterling after his marriage.[5]
In 2016, Dot Foods was listed at number 65 on Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies with a reported revenue of $6.2 billion.[1]
In 2017, John Tracy moved from CEO to executive chairman in the company, and his brother, Joe Tracy, became CEO. Another brother, Dick Tracy, was appointed president. All three are sons of founder Robert Tracy and his wife, Dorothy.[6]
Dot Foods has fifteen locations including its headquarters:[7]
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Dot Foods is the largest foodservice redistribution company in the United States. Dot offers over 123,500 products from 1,530 food industry manufacturers. Dot consolidates those products and delivers in less-than-truckload (LTL) quantities to distributors nationwide on a weekly basis. Distributors can purchase a combination of products with various temperature requirements as long as the combined total weight is at least 5,000 pounds.
Mount Sterling is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,006 at the 2020 census. Foodservice distributor Dot Foods is based in Mount Sterling.
Rold Gold refers to first a company and then a remaining brand of pretzels, now owned by Frito-Lay. The company, originally named "American Cone and Pretzel Company", was founded in 1917 by Philadelphia businessman Lorraine Schumaker. Run for its first half century as a family business, Rold Gold expanded its operations to St. Louis, Missouri, and El Segundo, California, and established a reputation for producing pretzels. From 1921 until 1955, the company also owned the Continental Packing Company, a pimento canning plant located near Macon, Georgia, but sold that part of the business in 1955, in response to increasing competition from overseas canners. In 1960, The Schumaker family attempted to sell Rold Gold to Red Dot Foods Inc. in Madison, Wisconsin, but the deal fell through when Red Dot went bankrupt and its principal owner committed suicide. Frito-Lay then purchased Rold Gold in 1961 and has owned the pretzel company ever since. In the years since its purchase by Frito-Lay, Rold Gold has expanded its sales nationwide. While on-bag advertising formerly stated that Rold Gold was "America's No. 1 Pretzel", when measured by total dollar sales in the United States, Rold Gold was the #2 pretzel brand behind Snyder's of Hanover as of 2014. Rold Gold pretzels offer a range of pretzel and snack products. All of these items are baked, not fried, and most are lactose free.
Don Tracy (born 1949 or 1950) is an American lawyer, Republican politician, and business owner. Tracy served as acting and confirmed chair of the Illinois Gaming Board (2015–2019), an appointee of then-Governor Bruce Rauner, and as chair of the Illinois Republican Party (2021–2024), succeeding Tim Schneider. He ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor in his state's 2010 general election. He is the Republican nominee in the 2026 United States Senate election in Illinois. Tracy is a part of the family ownership group of the privately-held, major food service redistribution company Dot Foods, where he served as general outside counsel.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →The Greenwood District.