Secret Ingredient- Birthplace Of An American Culinary Icon Was Here In New York

One of America's favorite foods, and the world's, was born in Upstate New York. Do you know which one it is?

Not only is Rome New York full of rich history, it's full of cheesy goodness. Did you know that it was home to America's first cheese factory? Yes, literally, America's first mass producing cheese factory called Rome New York home.

Jesse Williams founded the first cheese factory in the United States at Rome in 1851. The New York Times confirms this too:

"Cheese was made in everyone's home, but the idea that Jesse Williams would buy from the local farmers their milk, and pay them, and then he would go ahead and make the cheese, that whole idea started in Rome"

A century ago, several hundred cheese and butter factories formed a C-shape around the Adirondack Mountains. The New York cheese industry did suffer a setback in 1895, when a new law banned saloons from enticing customers with free lunches, which often featured cheese. Today, New York trails Wisconsin and California in cheese production.
Williams also developed the process used today for large-scale cheese manufacturing.

So believe it or not, Rome New York had an influence on the whole cheese world as we know it.

Where Was The Factory Located?

So, where was the factory located? The Daily Sentinel reports the very first cheese factory in the United States was located at Hyland’s Mills, near to Rome. This location is very close to Fish Hatchery Road. This location has also been known as Hicks’ Mills and Parker’s Mills.