Handy Chocolate Company
I like to point out old and unusual buildings to my daughter Nora. Once, I pointed to a building and said "that looks like it used to be a factory. What kind of factory do you think it was". She blurted out with glee, "I think it was a chocolate factory!" Oh, to be four years old again.
It turns out that there once was a chocolate factory in Springfield. The building is still standing, and I bet many of you have driven by it without even knowing what it once was.
If you often drive on Berkshire Avenue, in Pine Point, you will recognize the above building. Its address is 616 Berkshire Avenue. If you're on top of things, you might know this by its current usage, a bus company yard for Student First transportation.
You might remember this building as Ciocca Construction Company, or New Directions Community Outreach Inc., or School of the Warriors martial arts, or as housing a gun dealer, or as "Crossroads" (a dry club for teenagers), or any other of the hodge-podge of businesses that used it in the 1980's and 1990's. There was even talk of it becoming the home of New Leadership Charter School in 1999.
If you're a little older, you might remember it housing Mayflower Donut Bakery, Grazio Brothers Sheet Metal, Arrow Screw machine manufacturers, Federal Tool Company, or Springfield/Berkshire Cast Products (the latter, its last tenant before briefly going vacant in the late 1970's).
If you're older than that, you might remember that it was once exclusively used as a factory for Carlson Pattern Shop, manufacturer of wood and metal pattern equipment for use in the foundry trade. That company purchased the building in 1942, moving from a location on Cass Street (which it had moved to from its original location in a garage on Page Boulevard). Although it later leased out part of the space, Carlson occupied the building until the 1960's, later succeeded by a company named American Pattern.
Here is a photo of the building showing more vitality, a Carlson advertisement from a 1952 booklet published for the city's centennial.
But you'd have to be really old in order to remember that this building was originally a Chocolate Factory.
I don't have much information on the company, but here's what I know. In 1915, a company named the W.H. Miner Chocolate Company built a factory on this site. The company was listed as incorporating in 1914 with a capital of $750,000. The company's president was Herbert L. Handy, who was also involved with the H.L. Handy company, wholesale meat and provisions, which was incorporated in 1904.
By 1921, the corporation had changed its name to the Handy Chocolate Company. It operated until 1934 and disappeared from city directories in 1935. The building sat vacant until 1942, when Carlson Pattern acquired it.
There is ample evidence that at least in later years, Handy Chocolate was owned or controlled by the Kibbe Candy Company, also of Springfield. The 1934 city directory lists Kibbe as occupying some space in the building, Handy Chocolate's headquarters was listed just a few doors down from the Kibbe headquarters. The Springfield edition of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps verifies this:
The map gives a very detailed description of how the building was used:
First Floor: Shipping & Storage
Second Floor: Moulding & Cooling
Third Floor: Mixing
Fourth Floor: Roasting
Both Kibbe and Handy closed in the 1934-1935 timeframe.
The only significant online historical reference I could find on either company was that in 1915, a man named Frederick Hillman was listed in the book "Who's Who in New England" as the director and secretary of the W.H. Miner Chocolate Company, and that in 1926, the Handy Chocolate Company filed a petition against C.C. Mengel & Brothers in front of the US Supreme Court. The petition was denied.
Gone are the days when something like chocolate is manufactured in Springfield, but at least we still have the building. It's up for sale, too, for a cool $1.8 million. Maybe someone should send an information packet to Hershey's...
Candy is Dandy
An article written by Larry Gormally for "The Journal" of January 10, 2003, says, "Handy Chocolate Company produced chocolate coating in a plant they built on Berkshire Avenue. They produced about 35,000 pounds a year. They also produced several other chocolate products. They sold the business to Kibbe."
Perhaps totally unrelated, but curious nonetheless, is an ad from a 1912 "Recorder" (Central High School's publication?), that reads, "Meet me at Miner's. You know the place. You cannot forget that delicious hot chocolate. There is nothing served elsewhere that can beat it."
Additional comments
I'd like to archive a few comments made in the Masslive forums, because they contained some interesting information:
by Joseph1920:
by packrat:
By SQUATTY:
Thanks for sharing these memories, it really helps add to the body of knowledge out there.
found calender
i have found a old calender from 1956 carlson pattern shop with the dec still intake . would like to no if any1 would like to display in the building thank u ..
Handy Chocolate Company/Factory
My mother told me that my grandfather worked at the Handy Chocolate Factory, probably around the 1920's. He was laid off about 1934 or so, (when he would have been about 40 or 41 yrs old) my guess is probably due to the effects of the Great Depression. From there I think he went to work at Indian Motocycle, where he worked until he retired.
Kibbe Peanut Butter
I found an eBay auction that had this photo:
I guess this must be the peanut butter referenced in the above comments, produced in Springfield.
Kibbe peanut butter
Yes, that is the peanut butter. Those tins usually seem to bring a premium price. Years ago I saw one at Brimfield priced far beyond my reach but eventually I found a second one at a slightly more reasonable price and bought it.
We were cleaning in the
We were cleaning in the cellar and came across a metal sign with a mirror in the center that advertises: Kibbe's CANDIES, FAMOUS SINCE 1843. It was made in the USA by Goodman Co., Sign and Calendar Makers, of New York. Could this be from the Kibbe Bro's Company in Springfield?
1894 Bill of ladden
A few years back i was at a flea market and came across a box of bills from various candy and confectionery companies. Among those is one from the Kibbe Brothers bills for mint wafers, S+H sgrs, 5 cents March mallows, S + H Sticks, small mould pept, adams pipsin, wrappe sticks, choc dr,and mixed creams. It has sold to C L Clark at 37,39,& 41 Harrison Ave. Springfield Mass. It has a black and white picture of the biulding and a picture of a horse drawen wagon on the top of the bill. It has Sherman Porter pres't, Edwin Mc Elwain tres, Robt R Cleeland Secy written on it. Are you intrested in this item? If so you may call me at 616 902 3675 or email me at mbatchelder69@yahoo.com
Social Worlds
Family history has it that my grandfather, as a boy, had his first job working at the Kibbe Candy Factory in Springfield, MA. The story goes that he helped make a candy called "Social Worlds" (I think that's the spelling) which today are called caramel cremes. They were first made and sold at the Eastern States Exposition (which started in 1917). Does anyone have any history about this candy made at the Kibbe Candy Factory? The year was probably around 1914 or somewhere in that decade. Thanks
Kibbe Candy Co.
I am looking for advertisements or paper on Kibbe Candy, based out of Springfield, MA. I live about a half hour away from there but recently found an old tin sign from that co. Please contact me if you have anything like this. I would be interested in purchasing.
Kibbe Candy Co.
I have a red satin candy box. Upper left hand corner is a gold seal that has a raised printing...Kibbe Sweets that satisfy. Lower right hand corner has a gold raised banner that says "2 lbs. net weight". Bottom of the box says "manufactured by Kibbe Brothers Company Springfield, Mass." I have some "other old things" in this box and wondered if the box may be as vauluable as the stuff inside. No chocolate in there....
Handy Chocolate Company
My great-grandfather owned the H.L. Handy Company and the chocolate factory. I'd love to have a tour of the building, if that could be arranged. I've never been inside any of the family's former buildings. I have several addresses for them in the Springfield, Mass. area.
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