Mr. History Post Number 13: Squirrel Nuts.
The Squirrel brand dates back to 1890 when it started as the Austin T. Merrill Company in Roxbury. Incorporated in 1899 as the newly named Squirrel Brands Salted Nut Company, the company’s ownership changed and two long-time employees, Perley G. Gerrish and Fred S. Green, began to run the business. As the company grew, it moved from its Boston location to Cambridge in 1903 and then to this building in 1915.
The company was here in Cambridge from 1915 to 1999.
Their popular flagship product was the “Squirrel Nut Zipper,” a vanilla, caramel, and nut taffy that supposedly was named after an illegal drink during Prohibition. The candy was always regionally popular, but it made more of a national comeback during the 1990s when a retro swing band named themselves the Squirrel Nut Zippers and gave out the candy at their performances.
When Hollis Gerrish, the son of the founder, died in 1997, he left instructions for the company to be sold. In 1999, Squirrel Brand Company was purchased by Southern Style Nuts and the operation was moved to Texas. Its leaving marked the departure of the city’s last major independent candy manufacturer.
My personal connection is that I can remember my late grandmother telling me when I was a kid that she worked there prb in the late 1940s. (My mom might have also worked there at the same time for a while.) Everytime my granny would tell me of her time there I kept imagining in my head that famous I Love Lucy episode. My grandmother was on the line!
This one was for some of our memories together Grandma.
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