BY Ella Woodward, EASTSIDE HERITAGE CENTER VOLUNTEER

Do you remember when Frango Mints were sold at Frederick & Nelson? The mint flavored candy looms large enough in popular consciousness to warrant its own Wikipedia page.[1] However, Frango Mints had tough competition on the Eastside in the early and mid-20th century. In Bellevue, a sweet tooth could also be sated with the handmade mints of Charlie Younger or Elemina ‘Mina’ Schafer. Eastside Heritage Center has records and objects related to all these candies – all in mint condition!

Frederick & Nelson’s Frango Mints

Unlike the other mints in this article, Frango Mints were conceived in Seattle, rather than Bellevue. Nonetheless, they remain a popular candy in this area, and many Eastside residents remember receiving boxes of the chocolates from Frederick & Nelson. In 1930s Bellevue, the “practice of offering a box of fancy chocolates on special occasions” was cemented by the “arrival of home candy-making enterprises”.[2] Frango Mints benefitted from the legacy of this practice. Barb, Sylvia, and Marg (EHC volunteers) all associated the mint candy from “Freddy and Nellies” with Christmas and birthdays. Stephanie (EHC Collections Manager) remembered sending a box as a gift to her grandmother each year and considering them “fancy” chocolates for adults – “not for us children”.[3]

Frango Mints were first sold from the Seattle branch of Frederick & Nelsons at the corner of 5th Avenue and Pine Street.[4] The shop opened its candy kitchen in 1921 and started producing the rectangular mint truffles shortly after.[5] They were created by Ray Clarence Alden and made from cocoa beans, peppermint, and butter.[6] In 1929, Marshall Fields bought out Frederick & Nelson and the rights to ‘Frango Mints’.[7] They produced a Midwestern variation of the Frango recipe, which they sold in their stores, while the original recipe continued to be sold at Frederick and Nelson stores in the Northwest.[8] After the bankruptcy of Frederick and Nelson in 1992, Bon Marché obtained the right to sell the candies and kept this right until they were bought out by Macy’s in 2005.[9] Macy’s sells the candies today.

The EHC collection contains examples of the two different packaging designs for Frango Mints. The earlier box design is a mint green cylindrical tube with a brown top and bottom. Marg remembered the newer design – a hexagonal box with an intricate folding lid.[10] The box forms a flower-like shape when viewed from above and twists open and closed. It was one of these boxes that sparked my interest in the history of mint candy in Bellevue.

Charlie Younger’s mints

The defining feature of Charlie Younger’s mints was the product of an accident. In 1925, when the population of Bellevue was a tenth of what it is today[11], Charlie Younger’s mother was making taffy for a Masonic Lodge Bazaar when she added too much butter to the mix. This led to an unexpectedly delicious result: the batch of candy turned creamy! With no time to make another batch, Mrs Younger gave the sweets out at the Bazaar for free. [12] The strange batch of taffy was very popular, so the Youngers started selling the candies from their home. Not much later, in 1926, the family opened ‘Younger’s Candies’ on Main Street, selling their mints and a variety of other confections.[13] Soon, the Younger’s were shipping cans of mints outside of Washington State.[14] In 1947, the business was sold by the Youngers.[15] Later, it became part of the automated ‘Vernell’s Fine Candies’ from Seattle. In the mid-1950s, Vernell's was the largest producer of buttermints in the world.[16]

(2002.125.004) Addie Hurley behind counter in Charley Younger's Candy Shop, c. 1942

Jane McDowell’s Candy Shop

In 1930, Jane McDowell’s Candy Shop ran from the home of Mina Schafer (nee McDowell) at NE 20th on Bellevue Way.[17]

Although Mina Schafer’s mother did not feature in the creation of the recipes sold at the candy store, the shop did bear her name – Jane McDowell. This was both a tribute to the woman that had raised Mina, and reclamation of the name ‘Jane’ from negative connotations. Family anecdotes indicate the name ‘Jane’ had been associated with ‘loose women’ in Western states.[18]

It was a family business. Mina’s husband, Louis, helped with the productions of butter mints and peanut brittle, so that Mina could focus on making fondant and hand-dipping chocolates.[19] Mina’s grandson, Lance, remembers the local fame of “Grandma’s mints with her signature green can”, adding that “We always gave our teachers in grade school a tin of mints for Christmas.”[20] Indeed, Christmas was a popular time for the candy store – with notables such as President Roosevelt receiving shipments of the McDowell’s sweets and orders of up to 80 pounds![21]

During WW2, the business survived off the generosity of friends and family, and donations of sugar ration coupons.[22] In 1955, Mina sold the business to Benjamin and Ina Johnson, who renamed it ‘Kandy Kottage’, moving it a new location[23]. Still, it “drew lines of people around the block, satisfying many a sweet tooth.”[24] Mina herself continued working at the store until 1961.[25]

(2002.133.002 ) Mina Mary Schafer behind counter of Jane McDowell's Candies, c. 1940

Footnotes:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frango

[2] S Knauss, Culinary History of a Pacific Northwest Town (Eastside Heritage Center, 2007)

[3] Stephanie Mohr, EHC Collections Manager

[4] https://www.historylink.org/File/5771

[5] ibid

[6] ibid

[7] S Knauss, Culinary History of a Pacific Northwest Town (Eastside Heritage Center, 2007)

[8] https://drloihjournal.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-story-and-myth-of-the-famous-frango-mints.html

[9] S Knauss, Culinary History of a Pacific Northwest Town (Eastside Heritage Center, 2007)

[10] Marg, EHC volunteer

[11] AJ Stein and The HistoryLink Staff, Bellevue Timeline: The Story of Washington’s Leading Edge City From Homesteads to High Rises, 1863 – 2003 (University of Washington Press, 2004)

[12] Bellevue Its First 100 Years by Lucile McDonald The Bellevue Historical Society, 2000 Revised Edition

[13] S Knauss, Culinary History of a Pacific Northwest Town (Eastside Heritage Center, 2007)

[14] ibid

[15] ibid

[16] ibid

[17] ibid

[18] ‘Heritage Recipes Jane McDowell’s Candy Shop’ from the Vertical Files

[19] S Knauss, Culinary History of a Pacific Northwest Town (Eastside Heritage Center, 2007)

[20] Lance McDowell Schafer, Vertical Files

[21] S Knauss, Culinary History of a Pacific Northwest Town (Eastside Heritage Center, 2007)

[22] ibid

[23] https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/id/6852

[24] AJ Stein and The HistoryLink Staff, Bellevue Timeline The Story of Washington’s Leading Edge City From Homesteads to High Rises, 1863 – 2003 (University of Washington Press, 2004)

[25] Vertical Files