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It all started in 1876, the year America celebrated its
100th birthday, General Custer ran into trouble at the Little Big Horn
and Alexander Graham Bell made his famous telephone call to Mr. Watson.
In St. Louis, Missouri, Mr. Busch was brewing his first batch of
beer.
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| Meanwhile, across the
state in the busy river town of St. Joseph, Dr. George Washington Chase
faced a dilemma. In those
days it was difficult raising a family on a doctor’s meager wages.
Drawing upon his previous experiences while growing up back East,
Chase decided to open a fruit and produce business.
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His teenage son Ernest persuaded him to hire two expert candy
makers. The idea was to set
up a candy factory on the second floor of the store.
The idea worked and before long the demand for Chase’s fine
confections forced the family to devote all of their talents to candy
making. Over the years Chase became known throughout the Midwest
for its fine quality peanut candies and hand-dipped chocolates.
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| Around 1918 Chase formulated what was to become the best selling
cherry candy bar in the country, Cherry
Mash.
The candy consisted of a quarter pound mound of chopped roasted
peanuts blended with chocolate coating over a smooth cherry fondant
center. Interestingly the
candy was called Cherry Chase then Cherry Chaser before becoming the
Cherry Mash we know today.
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The business prospered and in the early 1920’s Chase
built a modern four story factory in downtown St. Joseph.
About this time the third generation of the Chase family,
Charles, joined the Company. By
1926 after 50 years in business, Chase had made over 500 different kinds of
candies, including an extensive line of candy bars.
Among the best sellers were: Pierce Arrow,
Tween Meals,
Malted
Milk,
Mallo Milk,
Double Brunch,
Black Walnut, Chasenut
and the ever present Cherry Mash. |
| Among the bars that were not such best sellers, were:
Real Stuff, Opera Stick, Lulu Bar, Cherry Rummy, Mammy’s Pride, Candy
Dogs and the thankfully short lived Mint Barber Pole! Chase’s famous mascot, the "Candy Cop", was prominently
featured on most of the bar wrappers. |
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The Depression years of the
1930’s hit the candy business especially
hard. If you had any money you
spent it on food for your stomach, not for your sweet tooth.
The Company experienced a huge decrease in sales and profits and an
extensive cut back in the number of candies it produced. |
| By the early 1940’s sales and profits had recovered to the point that
the Chase Candy Company became an attractive target for an investment firm in
Chicago. F.S. Yantis and Company purchased Chase Candy in 1944 for
over $1 million. For the first time
in almost 70 years no Chase family member was associated with the candy company. |
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Upon the Yantis takeover, Chase began a series of acquisitions that
within a few years made it one of the giants of the confectionery industry.
National, O’Brien, Shotwell and the Nutrene Candy company were all
purchased and consolidated under the Chase banner. |
| In 1954, Chase made its biggest move by acquiring Bunte Brothers Candy
Company. Bunte had a fine
reputation for making hard candy, particularly, fruit-filled hard candy known as
Diana Stuft Confections.
The Company became known as Bunte-Chase and all production was
consolidated in a huge plant in Chicago. By
the end of the decade sales had reached over 14 million. |
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Chase had overextended itself with the Bunte purchase.
The Chicago plant was closed in 1961 and Chase and Cherry Mash
returned to St. Joseph. Chase
then purchased the Poe Candy Company which was started by a former Chase
employee. Poe is still known for
its fine “Home Style” quality coconut and peanut candies, cooked in copper
kettles. |
| Today Cherry Mash remains the Company’s best
selling product. It can be found
throughout the Midwest in most grocery, convenience store and mass merchandise
outlets. To this day
Cherry Mash continues to be the best selling cherry candy bar in the
country. |
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- For more
Pictures:
- Featuring
early versions of the Chase "Candy Cop"
- Candy
wrappers from the 1920's and much more!
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