Its founders, Jesse E. Northrup and Charles E. Braslan, moved to Minneapolis from the Eastern United States.

Its mail-order business peaked in 1909, and the company began to send salesmen to retailers across the state.

Northrup, King and Co. later developed other cold-weather brands called Sterling, Northland, and Viking.

In 1938, Northrup, King and Co. partnered with the University of Minnesota to test the company's hybrid corn varieties at Femco Farms in the Red River Valley.

In the 1960s, Northrup, King and Co. vice president Allenby White fought for patent protection for agricultural crops that were more difficult to hybridize.

It helped companies including Northrup, King and Co. but hurt horticulturists and small farmers.

The company kept a retail store on Hennepin Avenue, but its new location was ideal for distributing seed.