Founders Room Tells Story of Tyson Foods Proud Past

A vision of the late Don Tyson has become a reality at the Springdale headquarters of Tyson Foods Inc.

Company leaders announced recently the completion of the new Founder’s Room, an approximately 1,500-SF museum of sorts that shares the culture and history of the $32 billion company with a wide-ranging collection of photographs, artifacts, videos and other displays.

The room is just off the main lobby at the company’s headquarters at 2200 Don Tyson Parkway.

The exhibit was developed at the request of Tyson, the company’s former CEO who died in January 2011 at the age of 80 after a brief battle with cancer.

Tyson wanted a way to provide an extensive look at the organization’s history and honor his father, John W. Tyson, who founded the company in 1935. Don Tyson assumed leadership in 1967 after his father’s death.

“For years, we had a Founder’s Room at the other end of the old executive wing that was dedicated to John Tyson and had some artifacts and other stuff,” said executive vice president Archie Schaffer. “But it was [Don Tyson’s] vision to expand on that and make it more accessible to our [employees] and vendors and customers.”

Texas-based design firm Circa, owned by Todd Johnson and his wife, Tracy, was the exhibit designer.

Circa collaborated with a committee of Tyson employees, headed up by Schaffer and Heather Chilson, director of corporate services.

 At the center of the exhibit is a life-size cutout of Don Tyson, as well as a replica of John Tyson’s office on Emma Street as it appeared throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

The Founder’s Room is open to the public during business hours, though Schaffer said groups should call in advance.

“We’re not like the Walmart Visitor Center in the sense that we don’t advertise and encourage people to come,” he said. “But it’s right here at the front door and we’re an open-door company.

“Individuals who are interested in the history of Tyson Foods and want to see the exhibit, we want them to see it.”