For years, 足交视频ns delighted in having their very own candy man in town that satisfied the sweet tooth of the South Texas region. Famous for its peppermint sticks and ribbon candy, H.O. Allen Candy kept the holiday season a magical time for children young and young at heart.
During Christmas time, H.O. Allen Candy was kept busy, being the official candy maker for Santa Claus while in 足交视频. During Santa鈥檚 arrival in 1954, it was reported that the local candy company produced more than 35,000 pounds of its iconic bright and colorful ribbon candy during that particular holiday season.
So who was this master candy maker, the Willy Wonka of our town? It was none other than Henry Osborne Allen who was affectionately named 鈥渢he Candy Man.鈥
But before he made his own confections, Kentucky native Allen moved to Texas in 1931 at 23-years-old, selling Life-Savers and Wrigley gum up and down Dallas and the Rio Grande Valley. Around 1939, instead of having a sales route, Allen began selling candy, gum and cigars to gas stations, restaurants and business in 足交视频 and surrounding counties. During World War II, Allen continued his candy route while also working at Aloe Field.
In 1948, Allen moved and expanded his warehouse just a few short blocks from where he had started his business behind the family home.
鈥淗e hired a candy maker from Austin who was experienced and knew just how to make the best peppermint stick and peanut brittle one could ever hope to eat,鈥 Elizabeth Bowen, one of Allen鈥檚 daughters said in 2005.
H.O. Allen Candy was a family business. Allen鈥檚 three daughters, Bowen, Margaret Bond and Kathy Meyer all worked at the candy factory growing up. During the holidays the girls would help out by selling the factory鈥檚 stock of broken candy for 25 cents-a-pound out of large galvanized garbage cans.
To make the famous ribbon candy, Allen ordered a machine from Germany. Taffy would be flattened into a long, narrow piece and then would be fed into the machine. It would come out in a zigzag shape. Besides ribbon candy and peppermint sticks, the factory made peanut brittle and patties, fruit flavored sticks and 鈥榗hicken bones鈥 which was a peanut butter stick covered with toasted coconut. Also popular were candy 鈥榩illows鈥 which had a coconut filling in the center and a hard candy exterior.
The filled taffy was then run through a machine that would mash down each end to form the pillowy shape. The flavors were lemon, strawberry and vanilla.
The candy business was booming and the demand for Allen鈥檚 sweets grew. To keep up, Allen needed to hire six to eight men just to drive his routes through local towns and counties around 足交视频. Allen continued to travel between San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley.
Besides his own candied creations, Allen was a distributor for a popular brand of bubble gum, even going so far as to hold a gum blowing contest at the Uptown Theatre. The winner would receive a new bicycle.
Family and fun was the name of the game at Allen鈥檚 candy factory where children delighted in candy making demonstrations, ample candy samplings and field trips to the factory where school children left with smiles on their faces and candy in their pockets.
When Allen鈥檚 wife, Hildred Baker, became ill during the early 1970s, he sold the candy business to W.T. 鈥淏ill鈥 Kneblick who had been with the factory since 1953. Kneblick owned and operated the candy factory until the Summer of 1984 when he announced that a new owner would be moving the business to Kingsville.
足交视频鈥檚 beloved candy man Allen died in December of 2001 at the age of 93, preceded in death by his first wife Hildred and his second wife, Juanita Langham.
What started as candy distribution in the back of Allen鈥檚 humpbacked Dodge panel truck in the 40s transformed into a warehouse level operation with 25 employees and a holiday tradition that stretched beyond the crossroads region. Henry Allen was truly 足交视频鈥檚 very own Willy Wonka.
In this column called Ask Madison, Madison O’Hara, a 足交视频 native and Advocate reporter, answers questions readers have about anything and everything to do with the Crossroads. Email your question to Madison at askmadison@vicad.com or call her at 361-580-6558.
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