Some recipes are too good to change. In a small Indiana town, a candy maker that started in 1890 still cooks its caramels the same way its founder did, with some of its original equipment still in use.
- Abbott’s Candies opened in Hagerstown in 1890 and remains the oldest candy store in the state.
- The shop still uses founder W.C. Abbott’s original recipes and machinery, including copper kettles for its famous caramels.
- Visitors can watch candy being made and sample treats along a local Chocolate Trail.
A Salesman With a Sweet Idea
W.C. Abbott spent his early years on the road as a traveling salesman before he decided to settle down and open a restaurant in his hometown of Hagerstown. While running the café, he started tinkering with candy recipes. Butterscotch, taffy, chocolate drops. People kept coming back for the sweets more than the meals.
Demand grew fast enough that Abbott made a choice most restaurant owners never face. He sold the café and put everything into candy, officially launching his factory in 1890. That decision turned a side project into a business that has now outlasted more than a century of change. Some of the equipment he leaned on more than 130 years ago is still running today, connecting today’s production to the shop’s beginnings.
Keeping It in the Family
When W.C. died in 1942, the country was in the middle of World War II and production paused for a stretch. His son Bruce eventually stepped in, expanding the operation and updating how things ran to keep up with orders. Bruce’s sudden death in 1949 handed the reins to his wife, Rhea, and his mother, Florence.
Rhea led the company through one of its biggest moves. In 1985, she relocated Abbott’s into a converted historic church building just south of Hagerstown’s Main Street, where it still operates today. A few years later, her daughter Suanna and son-in-law Gordon Goodnight took over and continued refining and growing the business.
A second location, called Abbott’s Also, opened in Indianapolis in 1993 through a licensing deal with Jay and Lynn Noel. The Noels later bought the whole company outright. These days they run both the Hagerstown and Indianapolis shops alongside their sons, Jason and Ryan.
Copper Kettles and the Signature Caramels
The menu has grown over the decades. You’ll find cream and nut-filled chocolates, fudge, truffles, brittle, and even sugar-free options for folks watching their intake. The signature product, though, is still caramel. The soft caramels, cooked in copper kettles the old-fashioned way, are the reason people ship boxes of Abbott’s to friends and relatives across the globe.
The appeal is the continuity. Original recipes and machinery remain part of production even after changes in ownership, location, and the range of sweets on offer. A box of caramels connects the current shop with a business that began when its founder was still working out what customers wanted from his café.
Making It a Day Trip
If you want to see the process up close, the Hagerstown shop opens its candy-making to visitors Wednesday through Friday, from 9 to 11 in the morning and again from noon to 2. It is a chance to see how caramels and chocolates take shape rather than simply choosing a finished box. Check the viewing hours before traveling, especially if watching production is the main reason for your visit.
Abbott’s is one stop on the Richmond/Wayne County Chocolate Trail, and that’s where a little planning pays off. If you’re mapping out a trip around Richmond, Indiana, you can grab a passport at the Old National Road Welcome Center, flash it at any of the 17 participating stops, and pick up free samples, discounts, and the occasional surprise along the way. It turns a single candy run into a full afternoon of tasting.
Worth the Trip for a Taste of History
The story is not that nothing ever changed. Abbott’s moved, expanded, and passed through several owners while retaining recipes and equipment tied to its founder. That combination gives visitors something to look for beyond an old date on a sign: a working connection between the shop’s history and the candy it makes now. Bring an appetite, buy a few caramels, and taste what patience and tradition actually taste like.
