John Wesley Berry (1857 – August 13, 1931) was an American pioneer, businessman, and politician from Tacoma, Washington.
Both of Berry's companies supplied their products to a number of state institutions, including schools and hospitals.
At the pinnacle of his political career, in 1892–93, Berry was a Tacoma Councilman, later losing this position after a water-plant purchase controversy.
Berry's father, born in Greenfield, Illinois, moved to a farm near Jacksonville, where he worked as a livestock merchant.
He found a job at a grist mill in Jacksonville and worked there for seven years, learning every detail of the business.
[1] Berry came to Tacoma intending to work in flour and cereal production, however, the building boom of the city diverted him from his plans.
[7][1] Eventually, Berry returned to his original plan, and started to work in the production of flour and cereal.
At first, the information was withheld, but later, the company's representatives asserted that the weevils had been imported with the San Francisco wheat, and the local product was free of it.
[13] However, due to business difficulties, the partnership was soon dissolved and the mills in Tacoma and Oakesdale were temporarily closed.
By this time, Berry had already begun to expand a new flour mill producing 100–150 U.S. dry bbl (10–15 MTON) a day.
The Cascade Cereal Company was second in sales after the Puget Sound Flouring Mills, which had an output value of $1,500,00 ($39,000,000[note 2]).
[6][31][32][4] At first, device production only required two employees, but the number of orders grew rapidly and the company soon needed to expand.
[8] The generally accepted cause of the fire was a spark igniting from a passing locomotive that lit the shavings in one of the Cascade mill rooms on the ground floor.
[35] After the fire, Berry left the milling business, instead working as a real estate loans and insurance agent.
In 1913, he was put in charge of the new flour, cereal and feed mill, established by the businessmen of the Consumers' Manufacturing & Supply Association.
[40][41] For seven years Berry was a superintendent of the Washington State Sunday School and taught a class of twenty-five girls.
Opponents to the purchase included another Washington pioneer, Aaron R. Titlow, who urged the people not to surrender to the corporations.
[44][45] At the time, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article alleged that the company selling the plant spent $50,000 ($1,300,000[note 2]) to support the election in favor of the purchase, and made a deal with the City Council.
Despite the landslide victory of the Republican party, his candidacy wasn't supported due to his connection with the city "swindles",[46] such as the water plant purchase.