Candy Windows Salt Lake City

[Lane Stefano]

If you think you've seen everything downtown Salt Lake City has to offer during the holiday season (Temple Square lights, Macy's candy windows, Ballet West's Nutcracker, etc.), hop on the FREE Jingle Bus for a different view of the city sights at night. My kids were super excited to ride the Jingle Bus. My family and I hopped on at the City Creek Center stop (one of five stops along the clockwise route), and rode the bus through all of its stops, hopping on and off as we pleased.

The bus is actually a trolley that the SLC Downtown Alliance, City Creek Center & the Gateway provide as a courtesy to anyone visiting downtown. The trolley is great because it's heated (nice respite from the cold), and the kids can ride in the raised rear portion and look out the windows. Also, the driver is very courteous and hands out taffy after you hop off. Sweet!

My kids loved riding the trolley and probably would have stayed on all night, had we not had plans to see the lights on Temple Square, peruse the candy windows at Macy's, check out a free concert at the Assembly Hall, and do a bit of window shopping at the Gateway.

On the beautiful morning of Monday, June 30th our mother, sister, daughter, aunt, and friend transitioned from this life holding her father\s hand and was welcomed into the afterlife by her loving mother.

Heidi was born June 26th in Salt Lake City, Utah to Jerry LeRoy Morris and Loma Lee Warr. She cherished her childhood growing up in Vernal, Utah with the freedom to run the fields, drag Main Street and make lifelong friendships at Uintah High School. Soon after high school Heidi moved to Salt Lake and loved living in \"the city.\"

Although she lived a short life it was full and vibrant as her never ending to-do list kept her busy to the end. She enjoyed being on the go, whether it was a weekend trip to her cabin, checking out at the beach, or planning surprises, gifts and thank you\s for her girls, friends and employees.

Heidi was the queen of holidays. She loved traditions and making the most of any theme she could buy treats and goody bags for. She looked forward to her family\s annual trip to Temple Square on Christmas Eve and was over the moon to see the candy windows return.

Her charismatic personality coupled with keen management skills made her a strong and respected business woman. She developed many ideas on a napkin while at lunch with her sister and best friend, Shelly. Equally her shopping and business partner they had a relationship unmatched!

By far her absolute favorite role was being Grammy to Ellie, Odin and Caelum. From the beginning it was an infectious love with each of them. She loved every minute she spent with them but always joked that she was happy to spoil them and \"send them home.\"

Heidi\s greatest gift in life were her children; BriAnn, Stephanie and Richelle. She relished every moment of being Mom, but parented with a gentle and pure honesty that led them to all respect her not only as their mother but dearest friend. She allowed them their independence but kept them near - always.

For three years cancer could not define her; she wouldn\t allow it. She persevered through each chemo treatment and even now some people never knew she was a valiant cancer fighter. Our warrior continued Onward!

Survived by her children BriAnn (Ryan) Denoyer, Stephanie Radeke, Richelle Radeke; grandchildren Ellie, Odin and Caelum; her dad Jerry Morris; siblings Monte (Heidi) Morris, Shelly (Mark) Carver, and Dusty (Kari) Morris; her niece and nephew Katie and Kansas Carver; the Radeke family including her dear mother- and sister-in-law, Ela and Viola Radeke. She was proceeded in death by her mother, Loma Morris and paternal and maternal grandparents.

Named after the founder, William Startup, and the family that still carries on the business, the Startup Candy Factory is a record of the candy industry in Provo and the state of Utah. The present building, constructed in 1900 to house the expanding business that began in Provo in 1875, is important for its longtime and continuing association with the company and its peak years of production. The Startup Candy Company was one of the earliest candy factories in the state and in 1892 became the third wholesale manufacturing company in Utah. The candy industry has thrived in Utah's ideal dry climate and; in modern years, Utah's candy makers have produced more candy than the combined Inter-mountain states. Renowned for several firsts in the industry, the Startup Candy Company originated the first candy bar made in the United States, as noted in Ripley's "Believe It or Not." The company is also famous for a specialty called Magnolias, tiny candies with a perfumed liquid center which were forerunners of modern-day breath mints. In Provo, the Startups were the first to introduce ice cream, which was sold from their store. Also unusual, the Startup factory had its own printing and box production and was one of few companies west of the Mississippi to produce fancy boxes for candy. Along another line, theirs was the first factory in Utah to give employees a profit-sharing bonus. Of the leading early candy factories, the Startup factory is one of only three which were located outside of Salt Lake City. The second, the Shupe-Williams Candy Company building (1906) in Ogden, belonging to a company that disbanded in 1967, was destroyed by fire in 2005. The J. G. McDonald Chocolate Company building in Salt Lake City (1901), is now the Dixon Paper Company.

The history of candy began when sweets were first produced by physicians and apothecaries to hide the taste of medicine. It was in England that candy making really began to rise in the early first half of the nineteenth century. An international confectionery exhibition was held in London in 1851 which attracted France and Germany to the candy industry. France later became famous for developing bonbons.

Across the sea, the United States was already involved in the industry with twenty small factories in Philadelphia by 1816 and as many more in New York. The first candies were mostly limited to an assortment of stick and molasses candies and some called "sugar plums," all made by hand. Other fancy candies had to be imported. Due to the introduction of machinery the industry began to grow during the 1840s. A revolving steam pan, the first machinery for the candy industry, was developed by Sebastian Chaveau of Philadelphia in 1843.

In the western United States, the development of the candy industry was spurred because of the expense of shipping from the East. The beginning of candy-making in Utah is not well documented, as it was generally done in private homes. Some attribute the start of the industry to Henry Wallace in 1862. In 1863 John Taffee McDonald, who had begun business by selling salt water taffy from saddlebags on horseback, opened a confectionery store. By 1869 there were eight confectioners listed in the first Salt Lake City Directory. The cost of sugar in the West was a discouragement to the early development of the industry. Until the coming of the railroad in 1869 sugar was hauled into the Salt Lake Valley by ox teams, making it extremely expensive and sometimes selling for as high as $130 a bag. Thus, the pioneers turned to their own resources deriving sorghum molasses from sugar cane, and attempting to extract sugar from sugar beets, later, a successful venture. Homegrown products were used in Utah's candy as Salt Lake City became a center of dairy and sugar production. Locally grown fruits were also used, and Salt Lake City, served by efficient transportation, could produce candy that rivaled the quality and cost of the candy produced in the East. The high altitude and dryness in Utah were favorable to candy production which eventually became one of the state's leading industries. The leading candy manufacturers in the state, listed in a 1924 article in the Salt Lake Tribune, included a majority based in Salt Lake City, the Shupe-Williams Company in Ogden to the North, a firm in Logan, and the Startup Candy Company located in Provo to the south.

The founder of the Startup Candy Company, William Daw Startup, carried to America a candy-making tradition that began at his father's home in England. Born to William Startup and Selina Morris on 8th September 1846 in Widcombe, England, William grew up helping his father make candy in a basement below their retail store. The family wished to move to America and this desire led them to name one of their products American Cough Candy. Only William Daw, the son, after being baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, immigrated to the United States. Following a friend, Hagar Hick, William left in 1869 for America and married Hagar on November 14th, 1869 in Salt Lake City's Endowment House. The couple first settled in Salt Lake City where William tried to earn a living as a teacher. In 1874 they moved to Provo, taking the scales that William had brought from England and some other tools that were either bought in Philadelphia or also brought from England.

In 1878 William was struck by a limestone cooling slab which broke a blood vessel and caused his death 10 days later on January 28th. His widow Hagar, who had four children to care for, carried on the business, and in 1892 the company became the third wholesale manufacturing company in Utah. The company had a manufacturing kitchen and a separate shop downtown where candy and ice cream were sold.

In 1895 the sons William, Walter, and George took over as the owners. It was in 1896 that the company produced the Opera Bar, the first candy bar made in this country. Sold for ten cents, the bar came in a wrapper that said, "Provo, Utah, The Candy City." The company was also an early distributor of Coca-Cola which they found to work well in making candy bars. The name was used on their bars for so many years that they obtained the right to use it. That right was later sold back to Coca-Cola.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, the Startup Candy Company was known throughout the western states and their distribution was expanding to several foreign countries. At its peak in the 1920s, the company employed 175 workers including 15 salesmen. The present building complex was built in 1900 as the business outgrew the original factory. Later expansion necessitated additions which included offices and a printing and box plant. The factory had special features for the comfort, entertainment, and health of its employees, and the owner, George A. Startup, interested in the welfare of his workers, was active in lobbying for the minimum wage bill for females. This was also the first factory in Utah to give employees a profit-sharing bonus, which ranged from 5 to 15% based on merit.

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