Bio: Drummond, David (1914)

Contact: crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org.

Surnames: Drummond, Jeffrey, Atkinson, Fitzgerald, Brooks, Briggs, Hindle, Culver

----Source: History of Eau Claire County Wisconsin (1914) pages 700-701

David Drummond, president of the Drummond Packing Company of Eau Claire, was born in western Ontario, Canada, November 27, 1849, is one of a family of five children born to John and Alice (Jeffrey) Drummond. Of the others, Duncan is deceased, John is vice-president of the Drummond Packing Company, Mary married Patrick Fitzgerald and Alice married W. K. Atkinson. The parents, who were natives of Scotland, came to Ontario, Canada, in 1842, and there spent many years of their lives. The father is now (1914) living in the city of Eau Claire at the age of ninety-one years.

David Drummond was reared in the province of Ontario and there received a good education in the public schools. Soon after his arrival in Eau Claire in 1870 he embarked in the meat business and was one of the founders of the Eau Claire Gas Light Company, whose plant was put in operation in 1882, and was also one of the organizers of the Eau Claire Park Company, a real estate company, in 1888, and was connected with the Pioneer Furniture Company. In 1873, as a member of the firm of Brooks & Drummond, he established the packing business, which was carried on as a co-partnership until the death of Mr. Brooks in 1876. For the next five years the business was carried on by Mr. Drummond alone and in 1881 his brothers, Duncan and John, became associated with him, and from that time until 1893 the business was conducted under the firm name of Drummond Brothers. In the last named year incorporation papers were taken out and the name changed to the Drummond Packing Company, of which he has since been president. Under his careful and efficient management the institution has grown and extended until it now ranks among the largest and most complete packing plants in northwestern Wisconsin. Not only to his own business has Mr. Drummond devoted himself with untiring zeal but also in the development of his adopted city has he been an important factor. Always a builder, he is largely interested in real estate there, and in 1895 erected the Drummond block on South Barstow street, which is one of the leading commercial and office buildings in the city. He built his present office building and refrigerator plant on Galloway street in 1880 and also erected the first building occupied by the Eau Claire Grocery Company on Galloway street in 1882, and started his fine packing plant at its present location in Eau Claire in 1875, adding to its facilities year by year and doubling its capacity in 1914. In 1888 he erected his handsome residence in Oakland Place, where he has since resided.

In brief, Mr. Drummond has been from an early time closely identified with, and an integral part of the growth and prosperity of the city of Eau Claire, and incidentally with that of Eau Claire county, and has been and is one of its most progressive and substantial business men, always ready to assist in any enterprise for the upbuilding of his home city, and is public spirited to a rare degree.

On August 25, 1886, Mr. Drummond married Miss Ella Briggs, daughter of Myron and Margaret (Hindle) Briggs, pioneers and respected residents of Eau Claire. To Mr. and Mrs. Drummond have been born five children: Margaret D., David M., George B., Henry H., and Dorris Margaret, who is the wife of Byron Culver and has one daughter: Sallie W., who has two great grandfathers, two grandmothers and one grandfather. Myron Briggs, father of Mrs. Drummond, was a soldier in the Civil War, being a member of the Eighth Wisconsin regiment, of which he was color bearer.

Mr. Drummond is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity. He is now a member of Eau Claire Lodge, No. 112, A. F. and A. M., the Eau Claire Chapter, No. 36, R. A. M., and the Eau Claire Commandery, No. 8, Knights Templar. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.