unearthing the remains of the former curtiss factory - home of the "baby ruth" candy bar

the excavating machines showed signs of life as they began opening a formerly vacant parcel of ground located just west of ogden slip (a man-made harbor located near the mouth of the chicago river) in preparation for yet another high-rise (the 42-story "optima").

shortly after they dug into the earth, i was drawn to the job site with strong suspicions that massive amounts of building material once pushed deep into the ground as "fill" would once more see the light of day. thus, i wasn't surprised to discover several piles of wood timbers, concrete and stone slabs and a steampunk-esque assemblage of twisted and heavily corroded pipes, gauges, casters, carts, tierods, grates and a giant spring. i couldn't resist taking the latter back to the shop, along with a few granite pavers, to photograph in the studio.

though i haven't had much time to research in detail the evolution of the urban landscape surrounding the dig site, based on a few historic aerial photographs showing the slip and the warehouses north of the river, i can say with complete certainty that the heavily weathered materials extracted thus far are remnants belonging to the curtiss candy company factory complex, home of such sweets as the "baby ruth" and "butterfinger" candy bars.

the curtiss candy company was one of several large manufacturers who grew a booming post-war candy industry in chicago. otto schnering founded the business in 1916, after graduating from the university of chicago with a degree in philosophy and taking the odd job of piano selling. the 24-year old native chicagoan began producing candy with a 5 gallon kettle and a stove in a leased space on north halsted street that was at the back of a hardware store and over a plumbing shop. the name "curtiss" was his mother's maiden name, chosen to make the company sound more "american" at a time when anti-german sentiment was strong. after several years of experimenting, the factory's first successful product-- kandy kake -- was refashioned in 1921 as the baby ruth bar, made to compete with the "oh henry!" bar as a candy priced five cents less, and marketed by the phrase "everything you want for a nickel."

by 1919, otto expanded his factory into the streeterville area, just north of the chicago river and west of lake michigan. by 1928, curtiss candy produced a billion candy bars per year within its three chicago factories operated by 3500 employees. 

in the 1940's, having weathered the depression and war, schnering eventually expanded into agricultural side businesses (namely champion cattle breeding and poultry raising). schnering bought farmland near cary, illinois, as it was said that he wanted to repay the farming community and dairy farmers who had been supplying milk, eggs, and cream for his candy business through the years. he oversaw an impressive operation that entailed care of thousands of animals by hundreds of employees on his estate, shaping the area into a mini-city or company town at curtiss farms. after his death in the early 1950's, the company was run by his family for a time and then bought out by standard brands (eventually coming to be owned by nestle).

the general characteristic of the unearthed remains paint a heavily fragmented, but at the same time, somewhat cohesive portrait of the candy factory that resided there, both in terms of the massive load-bearing wood posts, concrete floors, type of brick, "fireproof" windows, and so on. as more material is excavated during potholing in preparation for digging the pilings that will anchor the new development firmly into the bedrock, i will be monitoring their progress, hoping more remnants pertaining to the candy factory surface to lend further insight into a demolished candy factory that likely was never documented over the course of its existence.