Helen Drew started making black walnut fudge in her home at the west edge of Dexter in 1927, using a recipe she’d gotten from relatives New England. They made six trays of it and put a sign up, “Mrs. Drew’s Candy Shop.”
This was the Depression Era, but the main highway between Des Moines and Omaha ran right by their home. Motorists and truckers stopping in town for gas would also visit the shop.
They branched out with other kinds of candies, experimenting and perfecting, but using the old method of hand dipping each piece.
During WWII people ordered Drew’s Chocolates to send to servicemen. My grandmother sent Drew’s Chocolates to relatives on the West Coast every Christmas, and sent it to my husband when he served in Vietnam.
Drew’s Chocolates are still made and sold in the basement of the same house along White Pole Road. They still ship chocolates all over the United States, and even to other countries.
Des Moines newspaper, 1957; 1968 Dexter Centennial history
Historian Rod Stanley’s “Sweet Success Story” about Drew’s Chocolates.
There’s a short Valentine story that includes Drew’s Chocolates in Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression.
Oh so good. I remember Grandma Wilson taking us there and Donna and I running around and around where they were making the different chocolates. It was fun until we got told to start acting like young ladies. We were maybe 5 or 6 but we knew what that meant.
You know, when I was in junior high, our class visited Drew’s and saw how the containers of chocolate were shipped, etc. It always smelled good down there.
Amazing ~ and in the same house! I need to go get a piece of chocolate right now…
Ha! I know what you mean. I just got back from the bank and was glad they still had a small Snickers left over from Halloween!
What an amazing story.
Especially for a town of 600 people! It’s never had more than 800.
[…] are especially busy before and during Christmas. Many people ordered Drew’s Chocolates to send to servicemen during World War […]
Loved this article. She was my great grandma. I remember my grandmother bringing Drew’s chocolates for Christmas. They were delicious. Thank you so much for writing this article and for the lovely pictures. Best in your endeavours.
Oh, thanks for responding to this! My aunt was in Helen Drew’s class at Dexter High School. We even toured the candy kitchen when I was in junior high at Dexter. Fifty years ago, my grandmother even sent Drew’s Chocolates to my husband who was stationed in Vietnam!
[…] her annual “kerchief” from her mother (who lived in Omaha), a plant, nightgowns, and a box of Drews Chocolates from their old hometown of […]
[…] Drew made her first chocolates in 1927, and Drew’s Chocolates is still in business, along the highway in […]
[…] south to White Pole Road (the highway through Dexter) and on the corner is Drew’s Chocolates, which was begun when Helen Drew made her first batches of candy in 1927. It still does business in […]
[…] Drew’s Chocolates has been in business since 1927. (see page 142) It’s still a popular stop along White Pole Road at the west edge of Dexter. […]