K-9? No, K-83!

In this 1951 photo, Kennel Foreman Francis Kroha and Research Assistant Carl Steinke Jr.treat a beagle’s paw injury in the Gaines Research Kennels’ hospital.

By Jack Klasey

October 11, 2025

When 83 dogs arrived in Kankakee on February 17, 1951, aboard a specially equipped railroad car and were welcomed by local political and industrial leaders, the canines rated front-page news coverage in the Kankakee Daily Journal.

Obviously, these were no ordinary “mutts.” Instead, they were pedigreed animals representing 23 different breeds, from “barkless” Basenji hounds to large Norwegian Elkhounds to tiny Toy Manchester terriers.

“Kankakee has 83 new citizens today,” reported the Daily Journal on Page 1 of its February 18 Sunday edition. “The 83 are the pedigreed dogs which came to their new home at the Gaines Research Kennels along the Hieland road from the old kennels at Ridgefield, Conn. The new residents arrived in Kankakee by train, making the 900-mile trip via the New Haven, Pennsylvania, and Big Four railroads. They reached the city Saturday in a special car; it was immediately dispatched to the new distribution center of the General Foods corporation, where the animals could be unloaded under protection from the weather.

The contingent of dogs—believed to be one of the largest shipments of dogs by a private company—left New Haven, Conn., at 3:15 a.m. Thursday and reached Kankakee about 48 hours later….Special stalls for the dogs were installed in the car and special watering and feeding facilities were made available.”

Accompanying the animals on their rail trip were Francis Kroha, kennel foreman, and Carl Steinke Jr., research assistant. “The dogs stood the trip well, although they were a little more restless than usual,” commented Kroha and Steinke. The Journal noted, “The dogs seemed quite happy about reaching their final destination after nearly 48 hours in the special car and they yapped joyously and begged for plenty of attention from the 50 or so persons attracted to the distribution center.

“The new citizens not only were greeted by representatives of the Gaines division in Kankakee, but also by some of the prominent citizens of the community. Among those on hand to give the animals the official greeting were George Luehrs, chairman of the county board of supervisors…and Edwin Bergeron, president of the Chamber of Commerce.”

Dr. J.M. Fell, Director of Gaines Research Kennels, told the newspaper, “The kennels frequently have as many as 160 dogs.  The number was reduced to 83 at the present because of the moving of the kennels. The dogs that arrived in Kankakee Saturday range from 4½ months to 9 years in age. Twenty-three different breeds are included in the 83, with the greatest representation being among the English pointers and the Labrador retrievers.

The brief ceremonies at the distribution center included several short speeches, a press conference, and “photo ops” with the animals. They were then, noted the newspaper, “whisked away to their new home by covered truck.”

The dogs’ “new home” was a facility on a slight knoll overlooking Hieland Road, about five miles east of Kankakee. The new “Gaines Research Kennels” was designed specifically for nutritional research devoted to improving the company’s existing pet food products and developing new ones. The facility replaced a research center in Connecticut; it was moved to Kankakee to locate it close to “the world’s largest and most modern dog food plant.”

The Hieland Road research facility was divided into two sections: an administration building, and a group of structures making up the actual kennels. In addition to offices and laboratory facilities, the administration building contained rooms devoted to food preparation, grooming, whelping (puppy nursery) and a small pet hospital.

Designed to be both fireproof and ratproof, the kennel buildings had plenty of natural light and roomy cages for the dogs. Exercise was provided by forty-four outside runs, each twenty feet in length by four feet wide. Two indoor “play areas” were provided for puppies.

When the facility formally opened in late May, 1951, the dog population consisted of 90 adult dogs and 26 puppies, representing 23 different breeds, ranging from small fox terriers and Welsh corgis to Great Danes and Shetland sheep dogs. Each dog at the facility was given a bath and groomed on a regular basis.

A full-page feature in the Journal noted that, “As far as the lives of dogs are concerned, the Gaines Kennels…provide mighty lush living. The dogs now quartered at the kennels have five men bustling around waiting on them. The dogs are provided with as many square meals a day as they need, and as the Gaines people say, ‘the best food available.’”

In 1984, General Foods sold its Gaines Pet Foods Division to a Texas firm, Anderson, Clayton &Co.; two years later, that company was purchased by Quaker Oats Co. Today, neither General Foods nor Gaines has a Kankakee presence. The former Gaines Kennels property and buildings are now privately owned, with the exception of six acres of land that was sold to the Kankakee River Valley Forest Preserve District. The purchased property was annexed to the KRVFPD’s Aroma Land and Water Preserve.

Jack Klasey is a former Journal reporter and a retired publishing executive. He can be contacted at jwklasey@comcast.net.