[Fmr] NECCO Factory - Cambridge, MA
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 42° 21.692 W 071° 05.857
19T E 327263 N 4692049
The factory here built by NECCO was once the world's largest factory entirely for the manufacturing of candy.
Waymark Code: WM55YF
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 11/16/2008
Views: 12
Today, the yellow brick building at 250 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge has the "Novartis" name on in. Up until 2003, it was the main operations for the New England Confectionery Company, or NECCO.
NECCO has a long history of making candy. In 1847, Oliver Chase invented and patented the first American candy machine, a lozenge cutter. Oliver and his brother, Silas, went into business together and started making candy. Daniel Chase, another brother, invented a lozenge printing machine in 1866 and started making "Conversation Candy," which became today's Sweethearts candies that are the heart-shaped candies with messages on them. In 1901, several companies came together to form the New England Confectionery Company, or NECCO. In 1927, the company moved to Cambridge where they made candy until 2003, when they moved to Revere and continue to make candy today.
NECCO still produces many of its original brands and has aquired others over the years. They make the NECCO Wafers, Skybar, Clark Bar, Sweethearts, Canada Mints, Haviland Candies, and several other assorted items.
After NECCO moved away, Novartis, a biomedical company, moved in, completely redoing the inside of the complex. The only remaining evidence of the old occupier is the faint outline of the letters "N-E-C-C-O" going down the side of the building at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Landsdowne Street.
Sources, in addition to the Wikipedia Site:
NECCO:
(
visit link)
Book:
Cambridge Historical Society, "Cambridge on the Cutting Edge: Innovators and Inventions," Cambridge Historical Society, Cambridge: c2000.
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