Danish immigrant Christian Nelson, a schoolteacher and candy store owner,
began experimenting in 1921 with different ways to adhere melted chocolate
to bricks of ice cream in Onawa, Iowa. He began selling his invention under
the name "I-Scream Bars." In 1921, he filed for a patent, and secured an
agreement with local chocolate producer Russell C. Stover to mass-produce
them under the new trademarked name "Eskimo Pie", a name suggested by
Mrs.. Stover, and to create the Eskimo Pie Corporation. After the patent 
was issued on January 24, 1922, Nelson franchised the product, allowing
ice cream manufacturers to produce them under that name.

Christian Kent Nelson (1922)

Early ad for Eskimo Pies, November 3, 1921

(AP) – Hostess is betting on a sweet comeback for Twinkies when they return to
shelves starting on July 15.

The company that went bankrupt in early 2012 after an acrimonious fight with its 
unionized workers is back up and running under new owners, Metropoulos & Co.
and Apollo Global Management. The team bought Twinkies and other Hostess
cakes products for $410 million.

The company says the cakes will taste the same but that the boxes will now bear
the tag line "The Sweetest Comeback In The History Of Ever."

Twinkies were invented in the town of River Forest, Illinois on April 6, 1930 by
James Alexander Dewar, a baker for the Continental Baking Company.

James A. Dewar

 

        Russell Stover (May 6, 1888 – May 11, 1954)

Russell Stover was the founder of Russell Stover Candies. He
and his wife Clara tried their hand at farming early on, but gave
up after heavy rains destroyed their crop; instead Russell went
to work for a candy company.  

Leo Hirschfeld, an Austrian immigrant to the U.S. started a candy
business in a small shop located in New York City. He named his
chocolate confection after the nickname of his daughter, Clara
“Tootsie” Hirschfeld. 

By 1905, the company moved to a five-story factory and in 1917
the name was changed to The Sweets Company of America.

Trivia fact: Tootsie Rolls was the first penny candy to be individually
wrapped.

1951