Chattanooga Woo Hoo

Topps is inextricably associated with Brooklyn, there is no doubt. But if they ever had a "second city" it would be Chattanooga, Tennessee.  The wonders of the Scenic City would have been known to Philip Shorin, who was posted at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia after he was drafted during the Great War (WW1), as his army base was about nine miles south of Chattanooga and the city would have been a natural stomping ground for a doughboy on leave.

In March of 1943 Topps acquired the Bennett-Hubbard Candy Company (founded 1919) and established a southern outpost along the Tennessee River. Some wartime treats were produced there for a time:

Benn-Hubb as the locals called it also made such things as Peanut Butter and Table Syrup; presumably Topps sold those brands off.

Topps got another wonderful thing out of the city as well, the trademark to Bazooka, which was originally the property of the Brock Candy Company:

I've never been able to fully connect the dots but believe Brock sold the Bazooka trademark at some point, possibly to Bennett-Hubbard. Topps did not create the name, they acquired it. Back in the day Brock was a bigger concern than Topps or Benn-Hubb from what I can determine. They certainly were bigger by the 80's as they were the first US Company to produce Gummy Bears. Amusingly they were eventually bought by Brach's Candy!

(www.chattanoogan.com)

The Bennett-Hubbard plant, located on 11th Street, was shuttered by Topps around 1951 (I think) as they were consolidating their Candy Division back into the mothership. Topps may have reopened it for a time to produce confectionery items but I am definitely not sure about that. Topps had at least two other plants outside Brooklyn by the mid-sixties, I'm just not certain if this was one of them.

That's My Bush

Soldiering on from last week kids, with a look at the various Topps offices and plants that were scattered around Brooklyn from 1938-94.

After World War 2 drew to a close, the industrial base of the United States began to return to its previous infrastructure.  Bush Terminal, a sprawling industrial complex located in Sunset Park, just south of the Brooklyn Army Terminal, had been taken over by the government during the war and was being returned to civilian use.  Topps moved in to Building No. 1 in the complex, also known as Industry City, located at 237 37th St on June 1, 1946 as this trade magazine blurb shows:

The eagle eyed among you will note Topps was upgrading the Chattanooga plant as well. We'll visit that operation next time out.

For the next 18 years Topps would manufacture most of their confectionery products at Bush Terminal and as things really started humming in the late 1950's and early 1960's they eventually expanded into space across the back alley at 254 36th St, although I have yet to pinpoint exactly when.  The buildings' back entrances were catty-corner to each other, although I don't think Topps had more than couple of floors in each one, and railroad tracks ran down the alley in between them.  A block to the east those tracks could bring you to the piers on Gowanus Bay or heading south they would connect with the larger freight rail network in Brooklyn. Topps was able to receive raw materials and shipments by rail, truck, barge or ship and send finished merchandise out the same way with very little effort.

Here's an architectural drawing of the Bush Terminal Complex with South facing up (so you can read it properly); I've highlighted the two Topps buildings in yellow just below the middle of the drawing on the left:

The space at 237 37th St was eventually given up, probably when they moved production and packaging to Duryea in 1966. As mentioned last week, they had retained production and warehousing space in the various facilities they had been in starting in 1938 up until the move. 

After production moved to Pennsylvania, they kept executive offices at 254 36th St until 1994 when they moved them to downtown Manhattan, where they remain today.

 A 2013 real estate listing for 254 36th St showed an interior shot of one of the floors:

Much of the area is now being converted into condos and mixed use, it's a hot spot in Brooklyn! Here's an overhead shot of the area today, courtesy of Google Maps; The old Topps buildings are the top two long ones in the middle left, just under Costco in this view (click to expand):

I'll take a peek at some non-Brooklyn facilities next time or maybe the one after.

Office Party

Before Topps settled in at Bush Terminal in Brooklyn, they had a succession of office and plant spaces that they leased in Brooklyn.  I've briefly covered some of them here in the past but it turns out I posted an incorrect picture of their second address so I figured since all the buildings are still there, why not look anew. Today we'll examine their pre-Bush Terminal buildings and next time out the mothership at BT.

Topps started out in the residence of Philip Shorin at 582 Montgomery Street in Brooklyn as they were setting up the company in 1938:

The ended up leasing a production floor in the Gretsch Building at 60 Broadway in Williamsburg by the end of 1938, filling it with ancient machinery that would still be in use almost thirty years later:

Morris Shorin bought a house at 1460 President Street in Crown Heights from the Gretsch family in 1920 to boot, I assume they were family friends. 

By late 1944 they also had some space at 134 Broadway, a stone's throw away from no. 60:

Some premiums may have been stored and shipped from this address.

Also in 1944 came the purchase of the Shapiro Candy Company and assumption of its attendant lease at 383 3rd Avenue in Gowanus, although Shapiro had a mail drop at 60 Broadway during the transition:

Topps primarily made candy here.  Help wanted ads during the war offered free gum!

What's amazing is that all three buildings were still in use by Topps until they moved production and warehousing to Duryea, Pennsylvania in 1966!

Next time out, the mysteries of Bush Terminal.

alt.topps

We've covered a few moves and mailing addresses for Topps here over the years but today's entry in the Where Are They Now? category goes back to one of their first.


Topps moved to Bush Terminal in June of 1946 and primarily held two addresses there.  The first was 237-37th Street and then in the mid 1950's that began to be supplanted by 254-36th St, when Topps started to expand after the Bowman acquisition.  These were portions of two large buildings at Bush Terminal that had  a central alleyway running between them.

It turns out that Building No. 1 at the sprawling industrial complex in Sunset Park, Brooklyn belonged to the 237-37th St. location. This is the only alternate look to that address I have ever seen, from a November 1948 ad that also (and quite helpfully, I might add) lists the 29 National (DC) Comics ads for Bazooka would appear in and it highlights the old (Topps "Changemakers" penny gum tabs) and the new (Bazooka).

The idea of a comic book named "Mr. District Attorney" is quite amusing, no?

Sunday Hot Links

A hot link or two for a sunny Sunday morning-Enjoy!

Hopefully everybody knows about 1971 Topps Greatest Moments, a sort of homage to the golden days of sports reporting, bordered in black and quite tough to find, especially in nice shape with full bleed borders front AND back:





I'll get into the vagaries of this oversized, 55 card set someday bit for now just wanted to link to Fleerfan's blog post on this set, which is a highly worthwhile way to spend five minutes or so.

Next up is a Facebook page belonging to Mark Newgarden. Mark took a shot of the entrance to Topps' Bush Terminal offices in 1987 that is linked here. Not sure if you need to be on Facebook to see it or nor but I don't want to poach it. Topps had various offices and plants at Bush Terminal over the years and after moving most production to Duryea, PA in 1965 still maintained a corporate office in Brooklyn until a move in the 90's to Manhattan. Great shot!

Broadway Memories

There is a period of time concerning Brooklyn that has romance and nostalgia attached to it. It runs roughly from the Depression to the 50's and definitively ends the day the Dodgers moved to LA but it was sullied before that by Robert Moses and the demise of the Eagle. It has turned the Borough of Churches into a landscape of the imagination. It is within this millieu that Topps operated their business for their first two decades.

Friend O'the Archive Jeff Shepherd sent some shots along last year showing two old Brooklyn address of Topps, before they moved to Bush Terminal. Here's a bit of history as well on the facility.

Here's a shot of 60 Broadway, which housed early offices of the brothers Shorin; the gum and wrappers and all the other goodies were likely produced off premises with ample third party assistance at this time.



Gretsch Guitars were also headquartered here for many years and the building had their name.

Another possible address for the company (it may have been a maildrop) was 134 Broadway, just down the street from the Gretsch Building.



I can't decide if this would have been a step down for the Company, provided they even occupied offices there. Before the cards, there was Broadway! (Note 1/4/17-this is actually 138 Broadway, you can see a sliver of 134 to the right.  Sorry!)