Leland Physician Develops Breakfast Cereal

Leland physician Dr. U. N. Thornton was considered the “best diagnostician in the state of Illinois” by Dr. John B. Murphy of Chicago, one of the leading surgeons in the United States. According to Thornton’s obituary, he was a specialist in the treatment of diphtheria and one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Northern Illinois.

Ulysses Nathaniel Thornton was born July 1, 1865, in Ontario, Canada and was educated in Canada. He came to Illinois in 1885 and practiced medicine in Rockford, New Milford, and Chicago, before coming

to Leland in 1892.

By 1904, Dr. Thornton had “one of the finest and best equipped offices… in the county,” with a static electric machine with X-ray attachment and several other “electrical and modern appliances.”

In 1910, Thornton sold his Leland practice and moved to Arizona and later to California; however, he returned to Illinois in 1912, first to Aurora and then DeKalb.

During his years of practice, Thornton concluded that he could help people to a healthier life through nutrition rather than by administering pills and cathartics. As a way to better regulate and aid the digestive system through a combination of grains, Thornton developed the DeKalb Cereal Company in 1912 and built a factory on what is now Sycamore Road in DeKalb, conveniently located on the Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary Railway. The 40’x70′ three-story, brick building of Big 6 Breakfast Food had the capability to produce 24,000 packages per day, producing breakfast foods, cookies, and pancake flour, and employing both men and women.

W.E. Elmore was hired to manage the business, with Frank Austin, Mrs. F.G. Tankersley, Frank Thurston, C.E. Williams, and Miss Alta Cook on staff. The first board of directors were Dr. Thornton, D.D. Hunt (former IL State Senator), George I. Talbot (former DeKalb County Superintendent of Schools), J.W. Taylor, and A.W. Fish. Unfortunately, Elmore proved to be somewhat of a scoundrel, was charged with larceny, and disappeared, leaving the company on rocky footing, where it eventually declared bankruptcy.

Dr. Thornton returned to Leland in 1917 and took over the practice of Dr. Chapman “who has gone to the front.”

When an enthusiastic group formed to discuss a community hospital for Leland in 1923, Dr. Thornton was appointed to the committee to file for incorporation and later to the committee to ascertain costs of such a project, along with Dr. W.E. Chapman, A.N. Anderson, W.C. Farley, and Jesse Anderson. These efforts apparently produced no community hospital.

Dr. Thornton continued practicing until suffering a stroke in December 1925, dying two months later. He was survived by his daughter, Dorothy, of Leland and son, Dale, of DeKalb. His wife, Augusta Dale Thornton, preceded him.

U.N. Thornton was a member of the Leland Masonic Lodge, a member and Past Patron of the Order of the Eastern Star #300, and a member of the DeKalb Elks. He is buried in Leland Cemetery.

(Sources: Earlville Leader 2/18/1904,
4/21/1910, 7/14/1910, 8/22/1917,
3/22/1923, 3/29/1923; 12/17/1925,
12/24/1925; DeKalb Daily Chronicle
12/14/1925; (Sycamore) True Republican 11/20/1912, 11/27/1912, 7/3/1915,
2/5/1916; Cornsilk magazine Spring
2003.)