32 JUNE 25, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Glendale fi rm’s machine made for some sweet Ridgewood treats
This 1936 photo provides a view looking north along Dry Harbor Road (80th Street) in Glendale from about 200 feet south of the Long Island Rail
Road tracks. At right is the Atlas Terminal Building No. 1, while at left, the Eagle Coal Co. is partially visible.
BY THE OLD TIMER
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
This week, we have a story that
should appeal to those with a
sweet tooth and an appreciation
for chocolate.
Years ago, when candy chains that
operated their own retail stores had
locations on neighborhood shopping
strips, such brand names as Loft , Barton,
Barracini and Fanny Farmer were easily
found.
Of the two photos appearing this week,
the more recent one was taken by reader
George Klos from a Myrtle Avenue rooftop
in 1959. It shows the Loft store that
was located on the northwest corner of
Myrtle Avenue at Onderdonk Avenue
in Ridgewood. The shop later became a
pizzeria.
As we shall see, Loft ’s Candy had a
connection to Glendale that involved
something other than a retail location.
On June 10, 1902, the American Grass
Products Company purchased 18.72 acres
of land on the southeast corner of Cooper
Avenue and Dry Harbor Road (80th
Street). It had been the farm of Henri
Wulfurst. The land extended south to
the Long Island Rail Road. A short time
later, they began the construction of a
multi-story brick factory building of
40,000 square feet.
This 1936 photo provides a view looking
north along Dry Harbor Road (80th
Street) in Glendale from about 200 feet
south of the Long Island Rail Road tracks.
At right is the Atlas Terminal Building
No. 1, while at left , the Eagle Coal Co. is
partially visible.
This 1936 photo provides a view looking
north along Dry Harbor Road (80th
Street) in Glendale from about 200 feet
south of the Long Island Rail Road tracks.
At right is the Atlas Terminal Building
No. 1, while at left , the Eagle Coal Co. is
partially visible.
The site later became known as the
Atlas Terminal; today, it is home to The
Shops at Atlas Park complex. Thanks to
the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society,
we have a 1936 view of Dry Harbor Road
looking north to Cooper Avenue.
By the fall of 1903, the owners of the
property had become fi nancially overextended
and they sold out to the J.W.
Bishop Company of Rhode Island, who
purchased the property with the intention
of using part of it for a knitting mill
and leasing out the remainder to other
tenants. They built a power plant to supply
electricity and steam to their tenants
and by doing so, they introduced industry
to Glendale.
The demand for this type of factory
space was strong, and in 1906, they
erected another building of similar size.
Over 300 were now employed in the complex
by companies such as Westinghouse
Air Brakes, Eastern Sales Book Company,
Murmount Photo Paper Company, Samuel
Carey Company, etc.
Our story today is about the Samuel
Carey Company which made chocolate
candy machines for the Loft Candy Stores
and other chocolate candy manufacturers.
Carey also made machines for mixing
paints. Loft , their largest customer,
operated a chain of retail stores selling
quality chocolate-covered candy which
they produced in their own plant in New
England.
For special occasions, a box of Loft ’s
Candy was regarded as a treat, whether
for a birthday, or when a beau gave
his best girl a present. To produce the
thousands of boxes of chocolate-covered
candy that they sold each week, Loft
required a large manufacturer facility.
The Samuel Carey Company made the
machines in Glendale that Loft used to
manufacture their high-grade chocolatecovered
candy.
Readers who were customers of Loft ’s
boxed assortments (which were Loft ’s
specialty) might be interested in the
process that produced such items. The
cream, fruits, caramel, nougat, nut or
other centers were covered with chocolate
by an “enrober” machine. Extra
cocoa butter was put into the chocolate
used for coating.
The centers were carried on a endless
wire-meshed belt through a spray of
liquid chocolate that coated each center
evenly. Before the chocolate hardened,
deft ly fi ngered girls in the Loft factory
would mark a pattern on each piece to
identify the center. The wire mesh allowed
the excess liquid chocolate to drain
away. When the chocolate had hardened,
the individual pieces were wrapped and
placed in boxes.
The Samuel Carey Company built the
machines that were necessary to process
the chocolate from sacks of harvested
cacao beans and also the “enrober” machines
to coat the individual pieces. So,
if you had purchased Loft ’s chocolatecoated
candies, it’s likely that some of
them were made with machines built in
Glendale.
Reprinted from the Oct. 16, 2008 issue of
the Ridgewood Times.
* * *
If you have any remembrances or old
photographs of “Our Neighborhood: The
Way It Was” that you would like to share
with our readers, please write to the Old
Timer, c/o Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell
Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361, or send an email to
editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com. Any print
photographs mailed to us will be carefully
returned to you upon request.
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