At some level, many of the articles in this Virtual Museum are about Life Savers in America. This article will not replicate that information.
However, this article will include the individual locations for the administrative offices of Life Savers and the manufacturing locations within the states. For more detailed manufacturing information, see Manufacturing.
US Companies Manufacturing Life Savers⭕
1912, Cleveland, OH was imprinted on the candies.
1913-?, New York City, NY. This was the 1-room loft apartment where Edward Noble and J. Roy Allen started making candy, along with 6 other female workers.
c. 1919, Port Chester, New York. Depending on sources, this building green and white and either 5 or 6 stories tall. It's unclear whether that discrepancy can be partially explained by the following:
"One reason was that floor surfaces had apparently been sloped to create drainage ''to allow easier washing down between shifts,'' he said. In addition, transfer beams had been added in some spots to permit load-bearing columns to be removed so rail cars could be rolled into the building" (Brooks).
(Its address is N Main St, Port Chester, NY 10573, 0.5 mile from Connecticut.)
Former mayor Peter Iasillo recalled "that while growing up he could always tell what flavor was being made. The smell would permeate the entire town" (Vizard 1992).
1925, Life Savers, Inc. 1355 Commonwealth Ave. Boston, 34, Massachusetts was, at the minimum, a location to which orders were sent. I wonder whether there was a whole salesforce at that location?
1920-1929, Prescott, Ontario, see Canada
1960s, San Jose, California
- Photo of the plant, by Zellar, George, 21 March 1962
- Photo with 2 siloes, by Zellar, George, 21 March 1962
1967, Opening of the Holland, Michigan plant (Michigan)
At its 635 East 48th Street location, on the south side of Holland, Life Savers had an 8,000 square foot boiler room, equipment that would be required for making boiled candy like Life Savers fruit drops.
https://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/2013/12/haworth_relocates_office_furni.html
That boiler room featured glass panels, allowing people to watch the production of the Life Savers (VanOchten).
An article refers to scents of butter rum, wild cherry and wintergreen filling the air...I wonder whether they would have created both boiled candies and pressed dextrose?
The property redeveloper, Doug Gulker, explained,
“I used to walk the floors here, and your feet stuck to the ground. When we took it over, Life Savers moved out all of their old production equipment,” he added, “but all of the old rooms where they made different flavors in remained. Every flavor had its own production line and own production room.”
VanOchten, B. Retrieved from
1970, San Jose, California
Beech-Nut Life Savers Inc., photo by Arbuckle, Clyde
Also:
https://www.michigansthumb.com/news/article/Michigan-Life-Savers-Plant-to-Close-7348621.php
1973
Chattanooga, Tennessee Mars Plant, at 3002 Jersey Pike, was first opened as Wrigley Manufacturing.
https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/apr/12/life-savers-100-wrigley-chattanooga/
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mars-celebrates-50-years-in-chattanooga-tenn-301867158.html
https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2015/feb/04/another-life-claimed-local-plant/⤵️
The Chattanooga plant in 2015
1981, headquarters in New York and 4 plants
1984
The Port Chester, New York manufacturing building was closed (Brooks 1989).
1986-1987
"Stanley Katz, chairman of FCB/ Leber Katz Partners, which handles some of Nabisco's advertising, described him [President F. Ross Johnson] as ''incredibly intuitive,'' a quality he noted when Mr. Johnson decided to move Nabisco's Planters nuts and Life Savers businesses to Winston-Salem from New Jersey to take advantage of R. J. Reynolds's powerful selling and distribution network."
2002-3 Closure of Holland, Michigan
The early rumblings about the closure:
https://www.deseret.com/2002/4/11/19648526/life-savers-plant-is-dying/
"Pam Geurink, 40, worked at Life Savers for 21 years before leaving last October [2002] when hard candy rolls production shut down. In the months after the closing announcement, Geurink said it was tough coming to work as the machines and workers who cranked out lollipops and fruit rolls left.
"...the last Life Savers to be made in the United States are rolling out of Michigan."
The workers probably made this clearer than the journalists ultimately summarized...these were the last hard candy roll / boiled candy / fruit roll Life Savers to be made in the USA. Even to current date, mint-flavored Life Savers are being produced in the Chattanooga plant. And Spangler makes Life Savers Lollipops.
"Michigan Life Savers Plant to Close," Huron Daily Tribune, 7 April 2003.
2005 Wrigley purchased the Chattanooga plant
"Wrigley bought the Chattanooga plant in 2005 as part of its $1.46 billion purchase of Kraft Foods' confectionery business."
2012 Updates on the Chattanooga Lifesavers output (Chattanooga 2012)
"Wrigley's Chattanooga plant has nearly doubled its output with the completion of a $23.1 million expansion."
"The plant has boosted production to include Life Savers sugar-mint flavors, including Pep-O-Mint, Wint-O-Green, Spear-O-Mint and Orange Mint.
"The company previously expanded when it brought Altoids production from Wales to Chattanooga."
2023 Improvements of the Chattanooga plant
"Mars completed factory investment upgrades of $4 million in the local Chattanooga community earlier this year in March. The updates position the Chattanooga plant to play a key role in Mars Wrigley's resilient gum and mints (Life Savers, Altoids) business."
Sources
Brooks, Andrew. "About Real Estate; A Troubled Port Chester Project's Second Effort," The New York Times, 25 August, 1989. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/25/business/about-real-estate-a-troubled-port-chester-project-s-second-effort.html
Levin, Doron P., "A chief willing to gamble," New York Times, Oct. 21, 1988. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/21/business/man-in-the-news-f-ross-johnson-a-chief-willing-to-gamble.html
Pare, Mike. "Life Savers at 100", Chattanooga Times Free Press, 2012 April 12. Retrieved from https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/apr/12/life-savers-100-wrigley-chattanooga/
1981, Nov. 13, NABISCO BRANDS TO BUY LIFE SAVERS, New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/13/business/nabisco-brands-to-buy-life-savers.html
⭕⭕⭕
Life Savers™️ is a trademarked name currently owned in the US by Mars Wrigley Confectionery, having been owned and/or licensed by many previous companies, varying by country.
©️2024 to present. All rights reserved.