A. E. Staley

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A. E. Staley is a Decatur, Illinois based processor of corn, owned by Tate & Lyle, PLC. It produces a range of starch products for the food, paper and other industries, high fructose corn syrup, crystalline fructose (under the brand name Krystar), ethanol (fuel) and other agro-industrial products. A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company was the center of a controversy in 1992 when the company locked out hundreds of workers after the workers had rejected a contract amid accusations by management of destruction and tampering of company property and equipment. To this day, the entire campus is fenced off, including the corporate office.

[edit] History

Augustus Eugene Staley founded a sales company for food starch in Baltimore in 1898. In 1909 he bought a factory in Decatur, Illinois in order to start the production of food starch. The factory started production in 1912.

Staley founded a football league in 1920. The members of his team, the Decatur Staleys, worked as semi-professionals in his factory. Later the team was renamed Chicago Bears. The team's mascot to this day is 'Staley Da Bear.'