The Story Behind the Heath Bar

It’s an unknown tale that needs to be told.

Have you ever eaten a Heath candy bar?

I only have a few times in life. But nowadays, after learning what I did recently, I want to eat them more often.

The famous candy comes with a nice little backstory. It’s one that connects to my neck of the woods too.

The Founder Graduated from the University of Illinois

Born in 1870, Lawrence Seymour Heath grew up in a log cabin near Robinson, Illinois. After attending several small colleges and business schools over the years, he graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with an engineering degree in 1901 at the age of 31.

His career included a Latin and Greek instructor, school administrator, Robinson’s town engineer, surveyor, insurance and real estate salesman, dairyman and assistant postmaster. He also served five terms as the town’s mayor.

Time for a Candy Bar

In 1914, Heath bought a downtown candy shop and soda fountain for $3,000. His eldest sons, Bayard, 18, and Everett, 20, nicknamed “Skiv” worked alongside him.

They created a wide variety of treats to sell. Sometime soon after, a traveling salesman from Champaign sold them a toffee recipe. The father and two sons changed it up a bit and thus created the Heath Candy Bar.

In the years that followed, the newfound candy bar grew in popularity, even despite during the Great Depression. This created much notoriety and wealth for the Heath family.

Hershey Purchases the Candy Bar

In 1989, the candy bar’s rights were sold to Leaf, Inc. Seven years later, the Hershey Company bought the rights to the candy bar along with the likes of Jolly Rancher, Milk Duds and Payday.

The Heath family were very wealthy due to their creation, but not every family member had an equal share in the company. I’m not sure on the full details, but this created much turmoil and friction within the family. It is all told in the book “Bittersweet: The Story of the Heath Candy Co.” Richard J. Heath, a grandson of the creator.

Closing Thoughts

Who would’ve thought a well-known candy bar comes from small town America? And it has a connection to the University of Illinois.

What did you learn from this story?

Noah Nelson is a graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in journalism with minors in political science and history. He served as a senior columnist for The Daily Illini, serves as a writer on Medium and the host of his blog called Nothing But Noah. His books “Life: A Collection of Short Stories” and “Dana and Me: A Memoir” are both available now on Amazon. Like what you read? You can write for Medium too!