Sweet Home Chicago
City’s history as candy-making Mecca coming to OL Library
By Laura Bollin
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Oak Lawn Public Library is planning a presentation of Chicago’s history as one of the country’s top candy-producing cities.
“Chicago’s Sweet Candy History,” a free presentation, will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13 in the library’s lower level meeting room at 9427 S. Raymond Ave. Seating will be available on a first-come, first-seated basis. Oak Lawn Library public relations/development director Erin Foley said the program will be nostalgic for some of the library’s patrons.
“For some of them, they remember when these candy companies were right down the street,” Foley said.
Foley is working on getting samples of candies to give out at the presentation.
Chicago historian Leslie Goddard will lead the presentation. Goddard, who is trained as an actress, became enraptured with Chicago’s history while pursuing a PhD in history at Northwestern University.
“My real love is history and how things change and how things happen,” Goddard said. “While I was working at the Evanston Historical Society, I found out that Otto Schnering, the founder of Curtiss Candies, lived in Evanston.”
The beginning
In 1916, Schering founded the candy company named after his mother’s maiden name, his reason being that German last names were not popular in America in the early 1900s. Curtiss Candies made well-known chocolate bars like Butterfinger and Baby Ruth, Goddard said. Milton Holloway, the maker of Milk Duds candies, also lived in Evanston.
“The more I looked in Chicago, the more I started to realize just how many great candy companies were here,” Goddard said.
The first candy company in Chicago was started by John Muir, who sold sold hard candies at a shop on Water Street beginning in 1839. Wrigley’s Gum Company was founded in 1891, and Wrigley’s is today a household name, Goddard noted.
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