The Candy Wrapper Museum

Here's an interesting novelty item from 1937. All you had to do was eat 15(!) Clark Bars and save the wrappers to get three packages of Clark’s popular Teaberry, Peppermint, and Sweetwood Gum. This is back in the quaint old days when people ate sawdust for fun and would think "Sweetwood" sounded tasty.

The Clark that made candy bars was the same Clark that made chewing gum. The D.L. Clark Company was founded in 1886 by David Lytle Clark, whose family immigrated to the Pittsburgh area from Ireland when he was eight years old. In a classic rags to riches story, David Lytle Clark started out at age 19 making candy and experimenting with a new type of gum made of chicle in a small shack. He drove from store to store in a horse and wagon to deliver his goods. It took close to two decades to hit it big, but when he did, he hit it really big. He had both his candy company and his Clark Chewing Gum Company which he founded in 1921. His spicy pink Teaberry gum was a huge hit as was his iconic Clark Bar. The D.L. Clark Company was also the second largest bulk candy manufacturer in the world by the 1920s, manufacturing and selling 75 tons of bulk and penny candies a day around the world.

Super-wealthy D.L. Clark died in his sleep in 1939 at age 74. What a sweet life!


	Clark Home Clark Clark "Valuable Wrapper" Crispy Crunchy Nutcracker Zagnut Return to Classics	Here's an interesting novelty item from 1937. All you had to do was eat 15(!) Clark Bars and save the wrappers to get three packages of Clark’s popular Teaberry, Peppermint, and Sweetwood Gum. This is back in the quaint old days when people ate sawdust for fun and would think "Sweetwood" sounded tasty. The Clark that made candy bars was the same Clark that made chewing gum. The D.L. Clark Company was founded in 1886 by David Lytle Clark, whose family immigrated to the Pittsburgh area from Ireland when he was eight years old. In a classic rags to riches story, David Lytle Clark started out at age 19 making candy and experimenting with a new type of gum made of chicle in a small shack. He drove from store to store in a horse and wagon to deliver his goods. It took close to two decades to hit it big, but when he did, he hit it really big. He had both his candy company and his Clark Chewing Gum Company which he founded in 1921. His spicy pink Teaberry gum was a huge hit as was his iconic Clark Bar. The D.L. Clark Company was also the second largest bulk candy manufacturer in the world by the 1920s, manufacturing and selling 75 tons of bulk and penny candies a day around the world. Super-wealthy D.L. Clark died in his sleep in 1939 at age 74. What a sweet life!