Columbus Vegetable Oils Company can be traced back to the mid-1930's. An Italian immigrant named Michael Gagliardo opened a grocery store in the street level unit of his apartment building at Chicago and Howe Avenues in Chicago. The senior Gagliardo and his son, Michael V. Gagliardo, soon expanded operations by employing a can fabricating machine resurrected from a fire at the Continental Can Company. The father and son team rebuilt the machine, set it up in the basement, and formed the "Eagle Can Company", which rapidly became a formidable supplier of cans to local oil packaging companies.