Fanny Farmer got its start in Rochester in 1919. What happened to the candy giant?

Fanny Farmer Candy Shops' brand of a silhouetted cameo and script typeface was ubiquitous throughout a good chunk of the United States for much of the 20th century.

Even more memorable were the scrumptious flavors of the candies — butter creams, maple walnut, parfait bars, almond bark and orange creams, to name a few.

The Fanny Farmer company started in Rochester in 1919 and grew to a chain of more than 400 shops before the last stores closed nearly two decades ago. Fanny Farmer was gobbled up and bought and sold by other companies during its final years, most recently by a Chicago-based firm.

During its heyday, though, Fanny Farmer candy was the largest manufacturing retailer of candy in the country. The company was known for its tradition and its quality, as noted in a 1944 ad in the Democrat and Chronicle during the firm's 25th anniversary.

"The little old-fashioned white-front Fanny Farmer Candy Shop alone has withstood the changes of these years," the ad stated during those World War II-era days. "It appears today as it did in 1919. White-front, black-on-white sign, friendly white ruffled curtains at the windows, little white lighthouse blinking its greetings of welcome, gleaming white counters with many delicious candies and interesting nutmeats from all corners of the world — all remain unchanged."

That image remained for decades.

A Canadian businessman, Frank O'Connor, founded Fanny Farmer in 1919 with a shop on East Main Street in downtown Rochester. O'Connor had started the Laura Secord Candy Shops in Toronto six years earlier before venturing into the U.S. with a different name.

The company was named after Fannie Farmer, a well-known cookbook author and founder of the Boston Cooking School. The spelling of the first name was altered to avoid confusion.

The Rochester factory (Fanny Farmer officials called their factories "studios") was at the corner of Griffith Street and South Avenue. Additional "studios" and shops quickly sprung up throughout the country, and the product was an immediate hit.

The longtime president was a man named John D. Hayes, who was mentioned in some articles as co-founder of Fanny Farmer. Noted for his blindness as well as his business savvy, Hayes was named "Candy Man of the Year" in 1955 by national industry insiders.

Hayes guided the company through troubled times during the first half of the 20th century, as noted in a 1953 Associated Press story.

"In the Great Depression when the candy business had its back to the wall, Hayes slashed retail prices," the story said. "Sales climbed 150 percent, and Fanny Farmer stayed in business."

Hayes also noted, in a 1945 Democrat and Chronicle profile, how the company rationed its products for the home front during World War II "so that the military could get much-needed sweets."

A proxy fight in 1962 resulted in a group of New York City and New England investors seizing control of Fanny Farmer. Stores continued to open and flourish — a new store that opened in Midtown Plaza in 1962 was the company's 415th, news articles from that time indicated.

The "studio" at Griffith and South avenues closed in 1967, but the stores kept going. A 1967 Times Union story, headlined "Sweet Jobs Fading Away," described the factory's last days.

"The pace is easy, the air smells sweet and the 170 employees at the Fanny Farmer Candy Shops Inc. factory seem to enjoy their tasks," the story read. The building was later leased to the state Department of Motor Vehicles, and burned down in 1977.

Fanny Farmer maintained its presence here for decades after. The last three Rochester-area stores — in The Marketplace mall, the Greece Ridge Center and Panorama Plaza — closed in early 2004. As Frank Bilovsky wrote in a Democrat and Chronicle story from that time, Fanny Farmer had had nine stores in the Rochester area as recently as 15 years earlier.

A local man quoted in Bilovsky's February 2004 story reminisced about the company's halcyon days.

"When I was in grade school, we used to tour the (Griffith Street) factory as a class trip," the man recalled. "And by the time we left, everybody was sick. They used to let us eat whatever we wanted."

Those tasty morsels were the appeal of Fanny Farmer. But the candy land that put Rochester on the confectionery map is now just a memory.

Whatever Happened to …? is a feature about Rochester’s haunts of yesteryear and is based on our archives.

Morrell is a Rochester-based freelance writer.

Editor's note: This story was originally published in April 2014.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Fanny Farmer Candy Shops put Rochester on confectionery map