Mr. Duncan Hines

(Inducted in 2001)

Duncan Hines is one of the most recognized names associated with food and hospitality, especially in bakery items found in grocery stores. Even though he died in 1959, Duncan Hines is still the second-largest baking mix company with a product line that includes more than 60 different products.

Hines, a Bowling Green native and alumnus of Bowling Green Business University, worked for Wells Fargo, Coal Fuel Oil Co. and Green Copper Co. before becoming a salesman with a direct mail firm in Chicago. In 1935, Hines began including in Christmas cards a list of 167 outstanding restaurants. After popular demand, he turned his list into an annual edition. Later, he published "Lodging for a Night," "Adventures in Good Cooking," and "Duncan Hines Vacation Guide."

Following the death of his wife, Hines returned to Bowling Green in 1939 to build his home and office. In 1949, Hines and Roy Park formed a business to offer a line that grew to offer more than 250 products marketed under the name of Duncan Hines. In 1956, Procter and Gamble bought Hines-Park Foods. In 1998 Aurora Foods acquired the Duncan Hines brand.

Hines' legacy is celebrated annually with the Duncan Hines Festival in Bowling Green. In addition, an 80-mile scenic tour begins and ends at the Hines historical marker in front of his former office on Louisville Road and a three-mile stretch of U.S. 31-W is named in his honor.