Ira Middleswarth & Son, Inc. was founded back in 1942 by Bob Middleswarth. He started making potato chips with a single kettle, in a two-room building off to the side of his family's home in Beavertown, PA. At that time, Bob and his mother Lottie along with two other employees produced about fifteen pounds of chips an hour. The product caught on and more and more people came to recognize the special great taste and quality of Middleswarth Potato Chips. Bob's father, Ira, later joined the business and by 1959 the company expanded and moved to a new location on Orange Street in Beavertown. The business then became incorporated as Ira Middleswarth & Son.