Startup Candy Factory, Provo Utah

Date added: April 10, 2024

Categories:
Utah
Industrial

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Named after the founder, William Startup, and the family that still carries on the business, the Startup Candy Factory is a record of the candy industry in Provo and the state of Utah. The present building, constructed in 1900 to house the expanding business that began in Provo in 1875, is important for its longtime and continuing association with the company and its peak years of production. The Startup Candy Company was one of the earliest candy factories in the state and in 1892 became the third wholesale manufacturing company in Utah. The candy industry has thrived in Utah's ideal dry climate and; in modern years, Utah's candy makers have produced more candy than the combined Inter-mountain states. Renowned for several firsts in the industry, the Startup Candy Company originated the first candy bar made in the United States, as noted in Ripley's "Believe It or Not." The company is also famous for a specialty called Magnolias, tiny candies with a perfumed liquid center which were forerunners of modern-day breath mints. In Provo, the Startups were the first to introduce ice cream, which was sold from their store. Also unusual, the Startup factory had its own printing and box production and was one of few companies west of the Mississippi to produce fancy boxes for candy. Along another line, theirs was the first factory in Utah to give employees a profit-sharing bonus. Of the leading early candy factories, the Startup factory is one of only three which were located outside of Salt Lake City. The second, the Shupe-Williams Candy Company building (1906) in Ogden, belonging to a company that disbanded in 1967, was destroyed by fire in 2005. The J. G. McDonald Chocolate Company building in Salt Lake City (1901), is now the Dixon Paper Company.

The history of candy began when sweets were first produced by physicians and apothecaries to hide the taste of medicine. It was in England that candy making really began to rise in the early first half of the nineteenth century. An international confectionery exhibition was held in London in 1851 which attracted France and Germany to the candy industry. France later became famous for developing bonbons.

Across the sea, the United States was already involved in the industry with twenty small factories in Philadelphia by 1816 and as many more in New York. The first candies were mostly limited to an assortment of stick and molasses candies and some called "sugar plums," all made by hand. Other fancy candies had to be imported. Due to the introduction of machinery the industry began to grow during the 1840s. A revolving steam pan, the first machinery for the candy industry, was developed by Sebastian Chaveau of Philadelphia in 1843.

In 1844 a lozenge-making machine was produced by Oliver R. Chase of Boston. The industry was advancing rapidly in the U.S. and grew from 383 large factories employing 1,733 in 1850, to 4297 factories employing 33,000 and producing $80,000,000 worth of goods in 1900. In 1909 the value of goods produced had jumped to $135,000,000 and by 1924 the U.S. was leading the world in candy production, and also consumption.

In the western United States, the development of the candy industry was spurred because of the expense of shipping from the East. The beginning of candy-making in Utah is not well documented, as it was generally done in private homes. Some attribute the start of the industry to Henry Wallace in 1862. In 1863 John Taffee McDonald, who had begun business by selling salt water taffy from saddlebags on horseback, opened a confectionery store. By 1869 there were eight confectioners listed in the first Salt Lake City Directory. The cost of sugar in the West was a discouragement to the early development of the industry. Until the coming of the railroad in 1869 sugar was hauled into the Salt Lake Valley by ox teams, making it extremely expensive and sometimes selling for as high as $130 a bag. Thus, the pioneers turned to their own resources deriving sorghum molasses from sugar cane, and attempting to extract sugar from sugar beets, later, a successful venture. Homegrown products were used in Utah's candy as Salt Lake City became a center of dairy and sugar production. Locally grown fruits were also used, and Salt Lake City, served by efficient transportation, could produce candy that rivaled the quality and cost of the candy produced in the East. The high altitude and dryness in Utah were favorable to candy production which eventually became one of the state's leading industries. The leading candy manufacturers in the state, listed in a 1924 article in the Salt Lake Tribune, included a majority based in Salt Lake City, the Shupe-Williams Company in Ogden to the North, a firm in Logan, and the Startup Candy Company located in Provo to the south.

The founder of the Startup Candy Company, William Daw Startup, carried to America a candy-making tradition that began at his father's home in England. Born to William Startup and Selina Morris on 8^th September 1846 in Widcombe, England, William grew up helping his father make candy in a basement below their retail store. The family wished to move to America and this desire led them to name one of their products American Cough Candy. Only William Daw, the son, after being baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, immigrated to the United States. Following a friend, Hagar Hick, William left in 1869 for America and married Hagar on November 14^th, 1869 in Salt Lake City's Endowment House. The couple first settled in Salt Lake City where William tried to earn a living as a teacher. In 1874 they moved to Provo, taking the scales that William had brought from England and some other tools that were either bought in Philadelphia or also brought from England.

They built a factory next to their home at 60 South 300 West and began making candy in 1875. (The homestead and the factory still exist today but the factory does not retain its historic integrity.)

In 1878 William was struck by a limestone cooling slab which broke a blood vessel and caused his death 10 days later on January 28th. His widow Hagar, who had four children to care for, carried on the business, and in 1892 the company became the third wholesale manufacturing company in Utah. The company had a manufacturing kitchen and a separate shop downtown where candy and ice cream were sold.

In 1895 the sons William, Walter, and George took over as the owners. It was in 1896 that the company produced the Opera Bar, the first candy bar made in this country. Sold for ten cents, the bar came in a wrapper that said, "Provo, Utah, The Candy City." The company was also an early distributor of Coca-Cola which they found to work well in making candy bars. The name was used on their bars for so many years that they obtained the right to use it. That right was later sold back to Coca-Cola.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, the Startup Candy Company was known throughout the western states and their distribution was expanding to several foreign countries. At its peak in the 1920s, the company employed 175 workers including 15 salesmen. The present building complex was built in 1900 as the business outgrew the original factory. Later expansion necessitated additions which included offices and a printing and box plant. The factory had special features for the comfort, entertainment, and health of its employees, and the owner, George A. Startup, interested in the welfare of his workers, was active in lobbying for the minimum wage bill for females. This was also the first factory in Utah to give employees a profit-sharing bonus, which ranged from 5 to 15% based on merit.

Business was strong until the depression. During the Depression, Walter Startup bought out his brothers' interests in the factory but he soon lost it to the bank. He accumulated enough money to buy back the north half of the factory complex, the box plant, where the company is still based today. Products that were difficult to manufacture, including real marshmallows, chewing gum, and real milk chocolates, were produced at the factory and competed in quality and price with the Atlantic Coast. Still famous for hand-dipped chocolates and clear candy toys, the company manufactures products with the finest ingredients and traditional integrity.

The original 1875 factory remains but no longer retains historic integrity. It is severely deteriorated physically, has been sided, and is currently used for storage.

Building Description

The Startup Candy Factory is a two-and-a-half-story brick structure built in 1900. It has an eclectic mixture of Victorian detailing with several additions made through the 1920s. The early part of the building has a hip roof and later additions have flat roofs. Decorative elements are provided mainly by windows and doors, brick corbeling, and stringcourses. Since the 1920s additions, the alterations to the building include a modern door and an enlarged window on the southeast facade, bricking in of some windows, and two wooden lean-tos on the west rear. The lean-tos are not seen from the front. The south half of the complex has been recently renovated and is in excellent condition, while the north half is in fair condition.

The original, 1900 factory building was a hip-roofed rectangular block of yellowish-pink brick on a random stone foundation that formed a water table. Horizontally, this original section has three divisions with half-story basement windows, a rather high main floor, and a second story pierced by windows. Five bays wide, the facade had a window-window-window-door-window division on the main level from south to north, but the north windows have now been bricked in at all three levels. An early addition to the south (date of addition not documented, probably pre-1915) added five more bays pierced by windows that match the original building. Both sections of the factory were united by a continuous hip roof and matching ornamental details. All the windows are six-over-six double-hung and have segmentally arched heads with three tiers of voussoirs that are flush with the wall. The slip sills project out from the wall. The original door of the factory has been altered and replaced by a modern one with a cement surround. Beside the door, to the south side, one of the windows was enlarged to a triple set united under one large arch of yellow brick.

The south end of the factory addition shows a four-bay division plus a one-and-a-half story shed-roof brick lean-to on the west that was built as an integrated part at the time of the addition. The six-over-six double-hung sash windows on this end, which have had louvered shutters added, are paired and are wider and shorter than those of the facade. The second-story windows have flat lintels that abut the cornice while the main level and basement windows have segmentally arched heads with three tiers of voussoirs. The basement windows were bricked in when the basement was filled during a late 1970s renovation. The door, on the east side, has a one-and-a-half story height reaching from the basement level to the top of the main floor windows. To the west, the lean-to is pierced by a main floor and basement window matching the others.

The west side of the factory and its pre-1915 addition have had the windows on the main floor bricked in. A modern wooden frame addition (ca. 1970s) attaches to the north end of the brick lean-to and to the north of it is another one-story wooden lean-to (ca. 1960s) which attaches to the west wall of the original section of the factory. Four of the original corbelled chimney caps still stand on the west side.

To the north of the original factory, offices and a printing plant were built. The office building (ca. 1905) was originally one story and detached from the factory. Later, a two-story addition was made to the north side of the offices, and another two-story addition was made to the north side of the factory. Eventually, a second story was built over the offices and extended over a large segmentally arched gate to connect with the north factory addition, uniting all the additions and unifying the height. (The dates of each of these additions are not documented but they were completed before 1925.) Moving from south to north, these additions currently appear as follows:

The narrow yellow brick addition to the north of the factory is the most elaborate section. It has a flat roof with a cornice and parapet, and the wall surfaces are ornamented by pilasters and recessed panels. The second story has three six-over-six double-hung windows with segmentally arched heads formed by one tier of radiating voussoirs. A corbelled stringcourse sets off the main level which has two flat arch windows set in a recessed panel above two half-story basement windows. All the sills are brick and project at a downward slope. The doorway, on the north, reaches from the basement to the top of the main floor windows. The door is recessed and has a round arch.

Next to this addition is the large segmentally arched gate that spans the distance from the north factory addition to the original one-story office building. This office building had a corbelled brick cornice which now appears as a stringcourse, setting off the second story. The same corbelled cornice is repeated on the second story to unify it. The ground floor has a door-window-window-window-door division. The windows are two-over-two double-hung and have wooden sills. The window and door heads are segmentally arched and decoratively corbelled as is the cornice. The doors are paneled and have glass transoms. The second-story windows are aligned with one above each of the windows to the inside of the doors, and one above the arched gateway. These windows have segmentally arched heads with two tiers of voussoirs.

The addition to the north of the office building is unified by repeating the same corbelled cornice and the same two-tiered segmentally arched windows on the second story. The facade has a three-bay division with a central door flanked by two windows on the main level. The recessed door is paneled and has a glass transom. The windows are six-over-six double-hung sash and the segmentally arched heads on the main level openings have three tiers of voussoirs as do the six-pane half windows of the basement. The door is aligned over the central basement window and nothing leads from it to the ground. The yellow brick used on these sections of the building is currently painted pink.