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Cloves, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, baking powder, flour, raisins, dates, pecans, wine, butter, sugar, eggs, mincemeat, fruit mix, lemon juice, almonds, cherries, and pineapple all measured precisely, combined thoroughly, and baked lovingly was the basis of the St. Peter’s Altar Guild Fruitcake empire. 

In 1964 two-pound fruitcakes sold for $4.25 each. Five-pounders were priced at $8.95 apiece. Six thousand pounds of fruitcakes were shipped parcel post, prepaid and insured all across the continental United States that year. The enterprise later became global. The business began in 1920 when the Altar Guild needed to raise money to buy linens. Mrs. Charles Ritch (Nellie Daw) suggested baking and selling fruitcakes, based on an old family recipe brought from England, to fund the project. 

What started as a local effort to raise money within the community grew beyond belief through word-of-mouth and with the entrepreneurial skills of Father Menter B. Terrill. The business withered after the departure of Fr. Terrill. Increased cost of ingredients and a decrease in the labor pool took their toll. Ingredients were being purchased at retail prices and more women were working outside the home leaving too few workers logging too many hours for the effort to continue. 

The project was finally discontinued in 1979 but not before several tons of fruitcake had been shipped worldwide and thousands of dollars were raised for the Church.

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