MENTHA

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The Rise of Mentha

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

Mentha was named after its major local industry – mint. In this view of the village south of the railroad tracks, you will see the train depot and company houses. It also had a post office, school and general store.

In 1901, scientist and entrepreneur Albert May (A.M.) Todd purchased 2,000 acres of marshland here. His vision was to plant imported English Black Mitcham peppermint to satisfy the United States' growing demand for mint oil used in toothpaste and chewing gum. He first had to dig 15 miles of ditches to drain the property that would become the world's largest mint farm of the time.

By 1920, Mentha and the surrounding area produced 98% of the nation's mint oil. The drainage system is still intact. Can you see it in the surrounding farmland?

A.M. Todd, "Peppermint King"

Image Credit: Michigan History Museum

Image Credit: The Druggist's Ready Reference , Morrisson, Plummer & Co., 1887

Born in 1850 in Nottowa, Michigan, A.M. Todd began experiments to improve mint distillation while in his late teens. At the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition, he earned a gold medal for his "Crystal White Oil of Peppermint." He developed new ways to cultivate the plant, test its oil purity and created his own mint strain: Todd's Black Mitcham Peppermint. In 1891, Todd moved from Nottowa to Kalamazoo, where he managed his mint empire until his death in 1931.

The Mint Industry

Image Credit: Van Buren District Library

Producing mint oil required seasonal workers. They came by train from Chicago and lived at the company boardinghouse. Workers harvested, dried and put the mint into steam tanks for distilling. The resulting oil was loaded into barrels and delivered to Todd's Kalamazoo facility for further processing.

Starting in 1924, verticillium wilt, a destructive soil-borne fungus, decimated mint farms across southwest Michigan. Methods to control the disease were researched at Mentha, but progress was limited, and Todd's farm was sold in the 1950s.