Fred Mushroom Products Co.: South Lebanon's Mushroom Business

How Corwin Fred's basement experiment grew into a mushroom farm and cannery on West Railroad Street, and one of the biggest employers in South Lebanon.

For most of the 20th century, the biggest business in South Lebanon grew in the dark. Fred Mushroom Products Co. raised mushrooms in long, windowless growing houses beside the railroad, then canned, froze and sauced them under the Fred's label, with a cartoon boy hauling a mushroom almost as big as he was.

A basement experiment

The company was founded by Corwin Sage Fred. According to his obituary, he started growing mushrooms in the basement of his parents' house in South Lebanon "until his mother threw him out because it smelled so bad," as his wife Alice remembered. In an oral history interview, Jim Fred also said the business began in a basement (see Notes on the record below).

From that start Corwin built a full growing and processing operation. His obituary called him "the king of mushrooms in Warren County."

How the mushrooms were grown

The company's own booklet, The Story of Fred Mushroom Products Co., explains the work. Mushrooms were grown in rich growing beds inside dark houses. The beds produced crops in "breaks" or "flushes" of white mushrooms about every ten days. About 70 days after the start, production slowed too much to be worth it. The beds were then emptied, the houses were "completely cleaned and steamed" to keep out competing growths, and the cycle began again.

Because the houses were kept dark, pickers wore miners' caps with lamps. "The girls wear miners caps to light their way in gathering ripe, succulent mushrooms," the booklet says. Photographs show the stacked wooden beds, workers climbing in and out of the houses by lamplight, and women in hairnets and rubber gloves washing the harvest in long troughs of running water.

From the beds to the grocery shelf

Fred's sold far more than fresh mushrooms. Labels and packaging in the Society's collection show:

canned whole and sliced mushrooms
mushrooms in brown gravy, sold as "Ready to Serve"
steak sauce with mushrooms
two-pound bags of fresh-frozen mushrooms, labeled for the Fred Frozen Mushroom Co., South Lebanon, Ohio

At Corwin Fred's death, his obituary said, the company "markets canned and fresh mushrooms and mushroom gravies and sauces." The company registered its cartoon mushroom-boy logo as a U.S. trademark as Fred Mushroom Products Co., an Ohio corporation of South Lebanon.

A village employer

The plant stood at 395 West Railroad Street, a cluster of long, low buildings along the railroad tracks. At the time of Corwin Fred's death it employed about 100 workers, a lot of jobs for a village the size of South Lebanon. Many residents remember Fred's as the place where their parents, neighbors or they themselves worked.

How big was it compared with other growers? Local histories call Fred's the largest mushroom producer in the Midwest and one of the leading mushroom companies in the country. We have not yet found production figures to confirm that.

Corwin Fred

Corwin Fred's obituary describes a man with interests well beyond mushrooms:

He was a championship canoe racer in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, and kept racing until he was 63, when he had his first heart attack.
He was an avid pilot for about 25 years. He owned five planes and belonged to the Quiet Birdmen, an aviators' club.
He was a member of the Lebanon Elks Club.

He died at Kettering Medical Center at age 71, of heart failure. He was survived by his wife Alice; a daughter, Shelia Appleyard; a son, Peter; stepsons Mark and Gary Donahue; a brother, Mark; sisters Dorothy Hack, Leah Fred and Eva Fred; and four grandchildren. Alice said she and her son Mark would carry on the family business.

The end of Fred's

The Deerfield–South Lebanon historical marker, placed in 2017 by the South Lebanon Historical Society, lists the "Fred Mushroom Products Company until 1982" among the landmarks of village history, alongside King's Great Western Powder Works, the Hayner cannery, Duff's Smorgasbord and Kash's Bargain Barn.

Notes on the record

Our sources leave some questions open. Where they differ, or where we only have part of the story, we say so below. We don't know which version is correct. If you know, please contact us on the SLHS Facebook page so we can correct the record.

Where it started. Corwin Fred's obituary says he started in the basement of his parents' home. A summary of Jim Fred's oral history says it was the basement of "the Corwin House." These may be the same house, but we don't know.
When it started and when Corwin died. His obituary says he started the business 48 years before his death, but our clipping doesn't show the date it ran. We don't yet know the year he died or the year the business began.
The company's name. It appears as Fred Mushroom Products Co., Fred Mushroom Co. and Fred Frozen Mushroom Co. We don't know whether these were separate companies or names for the same business at different times.
The size of the business. It is described as the largest mushroom producer in the Midwest and as one of the leading mushroom companies in the United States. We have not found figures that confirm either.
When it closed. The 2017 historical marker says the company operated until 1982. We have not found a newspaper account of the closing.

Did you or your family work at Fred's? Do you have photos, pay stubs, labels, or memories of picking by lamplight? Please share them on the SLHS Facebook page. More product photos are in the Fred's Mushroom Company collection.

Sources

"Corwin Fred, mushroom king, dies," newspaper obituary in the Society's collection (publication and date not shown on the clipping)
"Person at Fred's Mushroom Farm, Lebanon, Ohio," photograph, September 1, 1978, Collection of David L. Smith, in the South Lebanon (Ohio) digital collection
The Story of Fred Mushroom Products Co., company booklet, page 7, and other photographs of the plant at work, from the same South Lebanon (Ohio) digital collection
Jim Fred, oral history interview, as summarized in a local history post shared with the Society
History in Your Own Backyard, "Bodies Buried Under The Ball Field & the Largest Mushroom Farm in The Midwest, South Lebanon, Ohio," 2016
South Lebanon Historical Society et al., Deerfield–South Lebanon marker (2017)
South Lebanon Historical Society collection: aerial photograph of the plant, product labels and packaging, and the trademark registration

11 images

Select an image to enlarge it. Use Zoom to read small print.

The Fred Mushroom Products plant from the air, beside the railroad tracks. Date unknown.
Page 7 of the company booklet "The Story of Fred Mushroom Products Co." The caption reads: "The girls wear miners caps to light their way in gathering ripe, succulent mushrooms." Courtesy of the digital collection linked under Sources.
A worker wearing a miner's lamp climbs out of a growing house. The houses were kept dark, so pickers carried their own light. Courtesy of the digital collection linked under Sources.
A worker pours water into a basin beside the stacked wooden growing beds, September 1, 1978. Collection of David L. Smith.
Washing mushrooms in a trough of running water. Courtesy of the digital collection linked under Sources.
Two-pound bag of Fred's Fresh Frozen Mushrooms, "delicious with" everything from hamburgers to stuffings. The bag names the Fred Frozen Mushroom Co., South Lebanon.
Fred's "Ready to Serve" mushrooms in brown gravy.
Fred's steak sauce with mushrooms.
An earlier label design for Fred's mushrooms in brown gravy.
The company's U.S. trademark registration for the Fred's mushroom-boy logo, covering canned mushrooms and mushroom products.
"Corwin Fred, mushroom king, dies." His newspaper obituary, date not shown on the clipping.

Added November 1, 2026