In honor of June as Candy Month, we look at one of Cambridge’s largest chocolate makers from the early to mid twentieth century. Candy making was a major industry in Cambridge, with over 66 confectionery manufacturers listed in the city directory at its peak in 1946.
Fred L. Daggett first started his company as a small candy store in Chelsea in 1891. By 1921 he was overseeing manufacturing in seven different buildings throughout the city. In 1925, in order to concentrate production and distribution and to secure more manufacturing area, Daggett built his Cambridge plant at 40 and 50 Ames Street and 400 Main Street. Completed by 1928, the buildings were designed by architect/engineer Mark Linenthal who would later specialize in racetrack and stadium architecture.
Daggett Chocolates acquired other companies, resulting in the production of more than 40 brands of chocolates. By 1930, Daggett employed over 400 people and produced 24,000 boxes of chocolate-coated candies a day. The company sold brands including Daggett, Page & Shaw, Durand, Lowney’s, and Apollo. Daggett not only produced candy, but also the boxes the candy came in. The factory had three separate unions: one for the confectionery workers, one for the box makers, and one for the printers.
The company also had a special fruit department. Daggett owned and operated a strawberry plant in Virginia where strawberries were preserved in sugar to make fillings for their chocolates. Because of this venture, Daggett also had an impact on ice cream and soda fountain business in the area. They supplied thousands of gallons of syrups and crushed fruits to druggists and ice cream manufacturers.
Fred L. Daggett died in 1958. The company continued for only a few more years. In 1961, the company sold the recipes to New England Confectionery Company (NECCO), and sold the buildings to MIT.
Sources:
Cambridge Chronicle, March 27, 1926; October 23, 1958
Cambridge Historical Society, https://cambridgehistory.org/candy/daggett.html
MIT Architecture Inventory Form, November 2016