Over his long life, Campbell Holton witnessed monumental changes in his chosen profession — the buying and selling of groceries. Born right after the Civil War, he grew up at a time when many types of food were sold out of wooden barrels and bins and then scooped and weighed (or counted) by store clerks. Yet by the time Holton retired in the early 1950s, he was overseeing a business dependent on refrigeration, canning, and modern packaging.
He was born in 1866 in Vincennes, Ind., to T.T. Holton, a minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and Ellen Margaret Campbell, a descendant of Alexander Campbell, a founder of the same denomination. The family moved to Lincoln, and at the age of 16 young Campbell began working for grocer C.E. Ross. In 1889, he married Adelaide May Blake of Clinton, and several years later the couple moved to Bloomington, with Holton finding work with wholesale grocer J.F. Humphrey.
By early 1908, he had established a wholesale house of his own. Campbell Holton & Co. operations were first located on the 100 block of East Front Street in downtown Bloomington, the site now occupied by a municipal parking garage. Brands most associated with Campbell Holton & Co. were Happy Hour, Camel, and Red Mill. Canned goods sold with the distinct lavender-colored Happy Hour label included applesauce, asparagus, blackberries, figs, pineapple, plums, raspberries, sweet potatoes, and salmon.