In the late 1920s, this Nebraska-based Inventor came up with the recipe for a popular powdered beverage that he named Kool-Ade and that eventually became known as Kool-Aid.
In his early adulthood years, he launched the Onor-Maid line of mail order items, which included a popular powdered liquid product called Fruit-Smack that was similar to Kool-Aid.
He made philanthropic contributions to the Perkins Library, the Perkins Recital Hall, and several other Nebraska cultural institutions.
He spent his earliest years in Lewis, Iowa, and the bulk of his childhood in Hastings, Nebraska. He was raised in the Christian faith and was married to Kitty Shoemaker.
The well known 20th-century Journalist and Writer Tom Wolfe penned a book -- The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test -- that includes Perkins' famous product in its title.
