250+ Years of Chocolate in Boston

The first chocolate factory in Boston goes back to the days of Paul Revere and Sam Adams – 1765 to be exact, a few years before the American Revolution. That’s when John Hannon, an Irish immigrant, set up machines powered by water from the Neponset River.

At that time in colonial Boston, most people drank tea. But in the 1770s, patriots began to boycott tea, and also held the Boston Tea Party, to protest British import taxes. That meant they switched to drinking hot chocolate or coffee. The timing proved fortuitous for Hannon’s chocolate factory, and the business thrived. After Hannon’s death in 1779, the Baker family purchased the business and changed its name to Baker’s Chocolate – a brand name that continues to this day.

In the 18^th century, candy bars did not yet exist. Chocolate comes from beans that grow on the cacao tree native to Central America. The beans, roasted and ground for consumption as chocolate, were a prized commodity among the Aztec and Mayan people who lived there. Spanish conquistadors brought the beans back to Europe, where royalty and other elites developed a taste for chocolate. Cacao soon became a trade good in the English colonies. The minimally refined, unsweetened chocolate was mostly mixed into hot drinks and considered a luxury item because the raw ingredients had to be imported.

As techniques for processing chocolate improved, Baker’s Chocolate expanded. Some people nicknamed the Lower Mills area of Dorchester “Chocolate Village.” Baker’s also added cocoa powder and candy to its products. The factory also produced chocolate rations for soldiers in World War I. In the 1880s, the company began distributing recipe booklets to explain how to use its products. Some recipes were named after local towns, including Wellesley and Milton. Baker’s continued publishing booklets into the 20th century with home economists as guest authors.

By the 1920s, approximately 1,000 people worked in Baker’s Mills. General Mills purchased the company in 1927 but kept the Baker’s name. The company moved out of Dorchester in the 1960s but is still in business today, now owned by Kraft Heinz.

The earliest candy bars were developed around 1850, leading to much competition for Baker’s both in Boston and beyond. Hilliard's Chocolates opened in 1924 in Quincy and Phillips Chocolates in 1925 in Dorchester. The Hershey Chocolate Company opened in Pennsylvania in 1894 and soon created its iconic Hershey Bar.

The average American now consumes between 10 and 12 pounds of chocolate each year, according to The Independent news site – and many classic recipes for brownies and fudge still start with squares of Baker’s chocolate.

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