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KITTY CLOVER POTATO CHIP COMPANY
Established Early To Mid 1900’s

Kitty Clover Factory Tour Brochure


Thanks to Ana Somers of the Douglas County, Nebraska Historical Society. Click the image below to view the entire brochure.

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Kitty Clover POS in store

The Kitty Clover sign and display are located on the left side of this photo.

Thanks to Ana Somers of the Douglas County, Nebraska Historical Society.

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Items From The Harman Collection featuring Kitty Clover

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The following photos and descriptions are courtesy of the Durham Museum
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A building with a sign. It says 'Kitty Clover Potato Chips.' A brick road runs in front of it.
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Company plant at 24th and Pierce Street. Building was constructed by masons from Italy with stone blocks salvaged from the old Douglas County Courthouse. Originally used as a dance hall.
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Company plant at 24th and Pierce Street. Building was constructed by masons from Italy with stone blocks salvaged from the old Douglas County Courthouse. Originally used as a dance hall.
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Company plant at 24th and Pierce Street. Building was constructed by masons from Italy with stone blocks salvaged from the old Douglas County Courthouse. There is a company delivery truck parked in front of the building. Negative is delaminating.
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Company plant at 24th and Pierce Street. Building was constructed by masons from Italy with stone blocks salvaged from the old Douglas County Courthouse. Employees are filling up cans of freshly made potato chips.
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Company plant at 24th and Pierce Street. Building was constructed by masons from Italy with stone blocks salvaged from the old Douglas County Courthouse. Employees making up the batches for potato chips to be made with.
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Company plant at 24th and Pierce Street. Building was constructed by masons from Italy with stone blocks salvaged from the old Douglas County Courthouse. Employees making up the batches for potato chips to be made with.
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Company plant at 24th and Pierce Street. Building was constructed by masons from Italy with stone blocks salvaged from the old Douglas County Courthouse. Employees on the production line filling up bags with potato chips.
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Kitty Clover Potato Chip Company Picnic, Omaha, Nebraska.
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Automobiles driving down a snow road with storefronts on either side. Signs read "Free Vees With Coupon From Kitty Clover", "To East Interstate 80", "To North Interstate 29", "Meadow Gold Ice Cream", "Atlantic, Greenfield, Missouri Valley".
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Automobiles driving down a snow road with storefronts on either side. Signs read "Free Vees With Coupon From Kitty Clover", "To East Interstate 80", "To North Interstate 29", "Meadow Gold Ice Cream", "Atlantic, Greenfield, Missouri Valley".
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Exterior of Fred Lippold's home at 5315 Grant Street. Lippold of Kitty Clover Potato Chips Company.
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A family size bag of Kitty Clover potato chips costs 59 cents
Terry Lippold - September 13, 2009
My father, Harold Lippold revived Kitty Clover in Omaha. It was just at the end of the Depression; he was 18 and could not get a job. He bought a defunct company with the logo; a witch’s cauldron sized copper pot, a case of printed bags, a stapler and a hand potato peeler for $150. He pealed, sliced, cooked, bagged and delivered the bags himself. Nobody knew what potato chips were at that time. He could not sell them so he placed them on consignment by walking to all the local restaurants, bars, theaters etc. He traded 40% of the business to my grandfather, Fred Lippold and 20% to my grandmother Louvana for a 50% interest in their car so he could expand. As he grew the business, his mom became the bookkeeper and his dad quit his job as a pharmacist to build the world's larges potato chip company. They only served nine states and the per capita consumption was about 30 pounds per person. Dad retired at the age of 42. The trade magazines could never figure out why he had such extreme success. It was that he never scrimped on ingredients. Kitty Clover became so large and powerful, he could have his own strain of potato grown in Idaho and have them brought directly to his plant on 24th street in Omaha. He used only corn oil for the best flavor. I remember as a kid standing next to the metal conveyor belt and grabbing the hot chips just after they rose from the oil and moving through a shower of salt. You think they were good from the grocer. I can still taste those hot ones 50 years later!
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The following photos are licensed from The Nebraska Historical Society

Three photos of Kitty Clover Plant in St. Paul, MN. One is at night and one includes a truck in front of the plant. Kitty Clover was owned by Fairmont.

1955 photo of Fairmont ice cream display (two men and two women offering samples of ice cream) and photo of large Snackmobile truck.

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Don Julio, A Direct Descendent Of Kitty Clover

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