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Apron guys
By adamg on Tue, 09/03/2013 - 11:14am
The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can figure out what these guys did when busy not sternly folding their arms and where and when they did it. See it larger.
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Chocolatiers. North End.
Chocolatiers. North End. 1921
Oh, C'mon
It's too easy if I can figure it out. Check out the 1921 wall calendar for the name of the company and the address on Summer Street. They were bakers and confectioners, and those are trays of cookies. Covered in chocolate, I might add, as any decent cookie is.
Too easy?
Well, the company who put out the calendar sold baker's and confectioner's supplies, so I'm thinking that they were a vendor to the company in the photo.
Phew
I feel better now.
When
Based on the calendar on the wall, the "when" is easy - February 1921.
Where, though, I don't know, though it's clearly one of the Boston confectionery companies. I would have guessed Baker's Chocolate, but I don't know that they ever produced candy bars, and the trays on the two tables appear to be full of both dipped items and some kind of light-colored centers, presumably being allowed to cure a bit before dipping.
There's a Reason It is Called "Necco Way"
Where there is now a parking lot, and where once stood The Channel night club? That's Necco Way, off of Melcher St. off of Summer St. just south of the Fort Point Channel.
I'm betting this was at NECCO, before it moved to Cambridge.
Always wondered
I used to walk past Necco Way and always wondered how it was related to the candy company, since as far as I knew, they'd always been located in Cambridge. That's pretty cool.
When not busy sternly folding their arms...
...they sternly made pot brownies. In 1921.
It can't be Phillips Candy House...
... because this dates back only to 1925. I think the late-lamented Dairy Fresh Candies (a lost North End treasure) first opened even later.
Wha... You're telling me that
Wha... You're telling me that Dairy Fresh is no more???? Gah!
Dairy Fresh
Clearly you hadn't been doing much to support their business - they closed a good five years ago.
B-b-b-baker face. Baker face.
B-b-b-baker face. Baker face.
BPL
BPL has a photo with the caption
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_lib...
"This building will be occupied about November 1st by Jos. Middleby, Jr., Inc. Bakers & Confectioners Supplies now at 201-203 State St." 337-347 Summer St."
Apparently, Middleby made lots of preserves and made and sold cutlery.
http://books.google.com/books?id=0_02AQAAIAAJ&pg=R...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jos-Middleby-Jr-Inc-set-of...
and jars
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Semi-Rare-Fruir-Jar-Emb-Jo...
So my guess is that Middelby is a supplier for these bakers.
NECCO
NECCO was in Boston from the time three companies merged to form it in 1901 until they moved to Mass Ave in Cambridge in 1927.
So ... February 1921 would put NECCO in a long-gone building along the channel just behind Summer St. in Fort Point - and not far from the supplier on Summer St.
There is a street in the area that is still called NECCO Street and NECCO Ct.
https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firef...
UPDATE: I see an anon beat me to it. Oh well.
Schrafft's?
I don't really think of Necco for chocolates
They did chocolates, too
http://www.necco.com/About.aspx
I used to walk down from MIT during finals week and get a 5lb bag of either the thin mint rejects or the "misdip" chocolates, which I would take back to Oregon with me. I wouldn't be two feet in the door before my brother would ask me where they were!
They introduced their boxed chocolates line in 1906.
Schrafft's?
I don't really think of Necco for chocolates
They sure look like a fun
They sure look like a fun bunch. I bet their Christmas parties were crazy.
Test Kitchen for Baker's?
Looks way too small an operation for a major manufacturer like Baker's or NECCO.
Given the chocolate coated goodies and the fact that there are usually a few hints in the photo that give you an opportunity to guess what it is I'm going with a photo of the Baker's Chocolate R&D staff (thus the ties on all the employees). Feb 1921 as others have pointed out.
Or it could be a special effects digital photo from last week of a bunch of guys who work at Mike's right before they walked across the street and punched out the guys at Modern. They look angry.
The Answer
Thanks for playing, everyone! This is Oestrum Confectionary Co at 1074 Tremont St in February 1921.
Clearly, Feb 9. The shoes
Clearly, Feb 9. The shoes are a dead give away.
It was run by a group of deaf people
In fact....
... you're probably right about that. We found this photograph in the Horace Mann School collection, but we weren't able to confirm if these were Horace Mann students. We're planning to investigate further when we finish cataloging this collection in the fall.
First hit in google search confirms
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