The Frisbie Pie Company is an American pie company located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was founded in 1871 by William Russell Frisbie in Bridgeport, Connecticut, when he bought and renamed a branch of the Olds Baking Company. The company was located on Kossuth Street in Bridgeport's East Side, where workers would toss around the pie tins while on their breaks. The activity made its way to nearby college campuses.[1]
| Industry | Food (bakery) |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Olds Baking Company |
| Founded | 1871 |
| Headquarters | Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States |
Key people | Dan O’Connor, owner |
| Products | Dessert pies |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references Defunct from 1958 until 2016. | |
Pie tins
editFrisbie supplied pies to many Connecticut retailers and restaurants, including the Middlebury College campus in nearby Vermont. Middlebury students discovered that the pie tins, inverted, had an airfoil shape, which enabled them to be thrown, with practice, in various trajectories.[2] [1]
In 1957, the Wham-O toy company, had the rights to a plastic flying disc design, called the "Pluto Platter". To capitalize on the craze over the pie tins, known colloquially as "Frisbies", they took the same name for their toy, changing the spelling to "Frisbee" to avoid trademark infringement.[1]
Frisbie pies today
editThe Bridgeport pie factory closed in 1958;[1] Frisbie brand pies were bought out by Table Talk Pies.[3]
In 2016, Dan O’Connor, a Fairfield, Connecticut resident, Frisbee player, collector and historian, acquired the license and distribution rights to the Frisbie Pie Co.[1] He re-launched the company in November 2016 in Bridgeport, Connecticut and began distributing pies throughout the region in early 2017.[4] They sell pies based on the original Frisbie Pie Company recipe.[1]
In popular culture
editIn Back to the Future Part III, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) while time-travelling to the Wild West, finds amusement in seeing the word "Frisbie" at the bottom of a pie plate. He later throws the plate at a derringer held by outlaw Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson), foiling his attempt to shoot Doctor Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd).
See also
edit- Ken Westerfield Frisbee disc sports
- Ultimate (sport)
- Flying disc games
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Herrmann, Michele (23 April 2019). "The Return of the Pie Company That Gave the Frisbee Its Name". Gastro Obscura. Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
- ^ Kirka, Danica. "Middlebury College Claims Stake in Frisbee Creation". AP NEWS. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
- ^ Aimee Tucker (August 11, 2016). "Table Talk Pies". New England Today. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
- ^ "our_story". www.frisbiepie.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-06. Retrieved 2017-12-29.