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A candy factory in San Antonio produced candy treats, including for Halloween, for more than a century. The Judson Candy Company sign can still be seen on its former downtown building on South Flores, which now houses lofts.
Jenner Manufacturing made treats at the site starting around 1899. Ragtime music was played on pianos in many local home parlors, President William McKinley was in the White House, and San Antonio had 50,000 residents.
George Judson Sr., who had worked for Jenner, eventually bought the company. His grandson, Jeff Judson, remembers family stories about candy sales being surprisingly good during the great depression.
“People couldn’t afford much, but they always had enough to buy one piece of candy or a peppermint stick to take home or something. That was something that everybody saved their money for — a treat they weren’t going to give up."
Judson Candy Company produced cherry sours, chewy pralines, peanut brittle and other treats. Along with the Butter Krust Bakery on Broadway, it was the destination of countless field trips for students.
Jeff Judson remembers going on a third-grade field trip through the family candy factory. Tour guides told school kids to stay away from the moving candy conveyor belts.
“They told the kids you don’t need to grab a bunch of candy. We’ll give you some at the end, but everyone did anyway. It probably would have violated an OSHA law or something today.”
He said a machine that made peppermint candies was the most fun to watch as it twisted to make sticks and mints. Juson said the white part of the sticks were clear when they were hot and then turned white as they cooled.
Judson said people were really fond of the cherry sours the company made.
"They were very sweet and tart and crunchy," Judson said. "It was just a taste and a feel in your mouth that you never forget. It just had the right amount of citric acid and sugar and crunch. It was a really nice candy." He also remembered the factory as pleasant smelling, including the aroma of roasted butter in the air.
Judson joked his Halloween trick-or-treating was anticlimactic. He got Judson candies from family members. He said that as a child, he actually preferred baked sweets to candy, probably because he grew up surrounded by candy.
He said the company’s heyday was from the 1950s through the 1970s, selling sweets in 28 states. Judson said after his grandfather died, the candy company was sold to Pearl Beer in the 1960s. He said his father, George Judson Jr., stayed on as general manager under the new ownership into the 1970s. Pearl later sold it to the conglomerate Southtown Corporation. Judson Jr. died in 2010 at the age of 89.
Judson said the candy company downsized after it changed hands. Chocolates that had to be transported in refrigerated trucks were no longer made.
Then, enter the 1980s, the Lufkin-based Atkinson Candy Company purchased Judson and renamed it Judson-Atkinson Candies, Inc.
Austin Atkinson, the company’s regional sales manager for the West Coast, said they came in full-bore to revive the San Antonio candy factory. Atkinson said making and selling candy is fun, and he does feel like Willy Wonka at times.
“We don’t have a chocolate river running through the factory, but there really is a genuine magic to it," he said. "We feel lucky to work with such an inherently happy industry, especially given everything going on in the world today.”
High sugar costs forced Judson-Atkinson Candies to end its San Antonio manufacturing in 2011. Atkinson Candy Company very much thrives out of its Lufkin headquarters, where the smell of roasting peanuts and coconut going into their candies fills the air.
You may recognize some of its candies, including the Chick-O-Stick, sold at major retailers. Atkinson said that since 1899, the biggest changes in the candy industry include fewer family operators, more corporate ones, and more automation. He said Atkinson still makes candies by hand. He said even though he is surrounded by it, he still loves eating candy.
“Candy is truly for everyone, and I love being part of a community that is so open and welcoming and focused on spreading a little bit of joy.”
Atkinson also hasn’t given up hope that the Atkinson-Judson Company might make a comeback one day in Lufkin and with the right partner.
