A $2 billion industry started right here in Southwest Michigan.

Maybe you've driven by that huge building along with a couple of cute matching small homes on Decatur Road just before M-60 on the way to Cassapolis and wondered, "what the heck is that?"

On a cold January day back in 1947 a person was complaining to their neighbor that it was such a pain to use ashes in her cats litter box.  That neighbor was Ed Lowe who worked at his father's company selling industrial absorbents like sawdust and clay according to the official website for the Edward Lowe Foundation,

She asked for some sand, but Ed suggested clay instead. Soon the neighbor would use nothing else, noting that the clay was much more absorbent than sand and didn’t track all over the house.

After that he Lowe began giving away 5-pound bags of this product that he called "Kitty Litter."  Soon people were paying him for bags of his invention.  In fact, he even created a litter product with Jane Goodall for chimpanzees.

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