Huyler's

"[N]othing but ripe and perfect specimens are used" a company advertisement promised in 1909.

Huyler's was a candy and restaurant chain in the New York City metropolitan area which was in business beginning in the 19th Century. In 1883 their candy factory was located at Irving Place and 18th Street in Manhattan.[1] The New York City Telephone Building occupied the opposite corner of 18th Street.[2] The firm was on a list of businesses in a 1901 issue of the New York Times, which had been in existence for at least fifty years.[3] The chain was owned by John S. Huyler, a trustee of Syracuse University.[4] He died in 1910 at the age of 65.

A Southern United States syndicate purchased Huyler's in December 1925.[5] In 1929 Huyler's candy and ice cream shops were owned by David A. Schulte, head of Schulte Stores. He envisioned opening five hundred stores within five years, to be operated by Huyler's Luncheonettes Inc. The new subsidiary maintained its offices at 110 East 13th Street.[6]

Company history

John Huyler's father, David, had a bakery in Greenwich Village and the family lived above the shop. John Huyler's first business was a shop on Broadway near 18th Street. It sold ice cream and candy. He saved the profit from the endeavor and put it back in his business, opening his first store in 1874. A few years later he opened three more stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Albany.[7]

The six-story building at Irving Place sustained $70,000 worth of damage caused by a fire on June 18, 1889. The conflagration burned three floors of the structure completely.[8] Another fire broke out at Huyler's on the night of January 27, 1917, in a brick building separated from the main part of the candy factory. Firemen struggled for more than an hour to control the blaze which gutted a portion of the plant. One source believed the fire began because of defective insulation wires.[9]

The Irving Place site of Huyler's candy factory was acquired by a building syndicate in 1928. It planned to erect an apartment building in its place.[10]

Legacy

Huyler's factory in a Coconut, from a 1909 advertisement

Benjamin F. DeKlyn, an associate of John Huyler in the formation of the candy company, sold thirty shares of stock in Huyler's Inc., to Frank DeKlyn Huyler and Coulter D. Huyler, sons of the founder, in 1910, for $349,000.[11] The other sons were John S. Huyler Jr., the youngest and David Huyler. The former died after his father before reaching the age of 21. In an accounting filed in a New York Surrogate Court on October 21, 1926, the trust fund left by John S. Huyler for his three sons was found to have increased 100% over the previous thirteen years. Over the same period Huyler's widow, Mrs. Rosa F. Huyler Cooke, received $390,000 from a $500,000 trust fund. She resided at 1 West 72nd Street, Manhattan.[5]

The Huyler Building, built in Buffalo in 1926, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.[12]

References

  1. ↑ A Fright Among Work Girls, New York Times, December 20, 1883, pg. 2.
  2. ↑ Irving Place Changes, New York Times, January 3, 1909, pg. 13.
  3. ↑ 1851 - 1901, New York Times, September 18, 1901, pg. JS31
  4. ↑ $20,000 For Being Late, New York Times, January 20, 1910, pg. 1.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 J.S. Huyler Trusts To Sons Show Gain, New York Times, October 26, 1926, pg. 21.
  6. ↑ Schulte to Combine Soda and Smoke Shops; Says Changing Tastes Have Ended Rivalry, New York Times, April 5 1929, pg. 30.
  7. ↑ John S. Huyler Dies In 65th Year, New York Times, October 2, 1910, pg. 13.
  8. ↑ Fire In A Candy Factory, New York Times, June 19, 1889, pg. 8.
  9. ↑ Many See Flames Feed On Huyler's, New York Times, January 28, 1917, pg. 18.
  10. ↑ Mandelbaum's Buy Third Av. Buildings, New York Times, August 1, 1928, pg. 37.
  11. ↑ Appraise De Klyn Estate, New York Times, July 22, 1919, pg. 17.
  12. ↑ "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 02/06/12 through 02/10/12. National Park Service. 2012-02-17.