Stephen F. Whitman opened a small retail “Confectionery and Fruiterer Shop” at Third and Market Streets in Philadelphia in 1842.
- Just three years after its introduction in 1915, the Whitman’s Sampler® emerges as the most popular assortment in the Whitman’s line and the best-selling box of chocolates in America. In recognition of its standing, the Messenger Boy is introduced, becomes a registered trademark, and is added as a piece of candy to the Sampler®.
“Opening and shaving cocoanuts. The cocoanut shells are used in the manufacture of gas defense masks, and each day’s accumulation of this by-product is promptly delivered to the government.”
- From 1942 to 1945, the factory workers of the Whitman candy empire in Philadelphia helped ship well over 6 million pounds of free chocolate to soldiers stationed overseas. Tucked inside their Whitman’s Sampler boxes were handwritten notes of support from the women working the factory’s conveyor belts.
- Through changes in leadership—to his son, Horace, and eventually to president Walter Sharp in the early 1900s—Whitman’s soon arrived on the Sampler, which was packaged using a design inspired by a cross-stitching sampler that hung in Sharp’s house.
- For years, Whitman’s was the largest user of cellophane in America.
- For decades, miniature Samplers packaged in tins emblazoned with the presidential seal have been given out to guests of the White House and Air Force One, and in 1991, the tell-tale yellow box in all its pseudo cross-stitched glory was given a permanent spot at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.
Beginning in 1950 and for the next decade, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Bob Hope and Elizabeth Taylor are among the many motion picture stars who appear in “The Saturday Evening Post” advertisements endorsing Whitman’s Chocolates. Compensation for these endorsements is in boxes of chocolates and a mention of the star’s upcoming motion picture.
- In keeping with Whitman’s tradition of sending chocolates with hand-written notes to troops for encouragement, Whitman’s sent 6000 boxes with notes to troops following the terrorist attack against the United States on 9/11/2001.
- Whitman’s operated as an independent chocolate company until 1993 when it was acquired by Russell Stover Candies, a company founded in 1923 and now based in Kansas City, Missouri. In 2014 both Russell Stover and Whitman’s were acquired by Switzerland-based Lindt & Sprungli.
- Credit (blame?) is due to Margaret C. for bringing a Whitman’s sampler to book club.
Sources: https://www.russellstover.com/whitmans-history, eater.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52638150 and https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/516359/short-and-sweet-history-whitmans-sampler
SO interesting and I had no idea. Wonder what, if anything, marks the two original locations of Whitman’s in Philadelphia? Maybe I’ll go on a hunt next time I’m in the city and thanks to Margaret C from me for your inspiration. 😊
Jeri, When my two children were young, I would hide a mini tin box of Whitman Sampler chocolates in their Christmas stockings. It eventually morphed in to the ‘big box’. Thanks for the memories.
Sandy