Sweet Memories of St. Paul

When my mother left the Minnesota farm of her childhood in 1944, she worked at Trudeau Candies, Inc., in St. Paul. Doris moved in with a maternal aunt, Stella (Berge) Schuster, on Stryker Avenue. The very first job Doris had was at a factory that made rugs out of felt. But, the factory was very dirty, and fuzz flew in the air everywhere so that she could not help but breathe it in. She worried about the safety of working there. But, it was wartime, and there were many jobs to be had. Aunt Stella, a nurse, went down to the factory to take a look at the conditions and agreed that Doris should not continue making rugs. Instead, Stella helped her find a job with the candy factory at Trudeau's. It was a job Doris loved.




Trudeau's SevenUp Bar

7 Delicious Varieties in One Bar



Image: The Candy Wrapper Museum

"Contains crunchy whole Brazil nuts; rich milk caramele; luscious maple walnut delights; tempting chocolate pudding; delicious fig marmalade; triple vanilla creame; thickly coated with richly flavored vanilla chocolate"


The owner of the candy company was elderly Oscar G. Trudeau. There were other businesses in the large building, and in the next room a different company made ration bars for the U. S. Army. Trudeau, whom Doris remembers as the "old Grandpa," was fond of her, and he even sent Doris a Christmas card after she moved to California.

The Seven Up bar had seven different sections, each containing a different filling, completely covered by a chocolate coating. At Trudeau's, Doris's main job was working upstairs on the crisp--a hard candy containing nuts that formed one of the seven sections of flavors in the bar. She stood at a small table and pounded the crisp into small pieces. Once in awhile, she had to work downstairs on the belt, where the seven-sectioned bars were smeared with chocolate by hand before being wrapped. She does not recall having to wear any special clothing: aprons, hats, or even hair nets.

I asked my mother if she ever got to take home samples, and the answer was "No." But, it didn't sound like anyone expected it back then. Employees could buy candy bars, but at regular prices. It was wartime, and that may have had a lot to do with the lack of employee discounts on their popular chocolate merchandise.

This photo of Doris Johnson was taken a few short years after her stint at Trudeau Candies. West coast factories and canneries had more safety and cleanliness regulations than Doris had experienced in St. Paul. The Heinz factory in Richmond, California required workers to wear this uniform with the "funny hat."

Eddie, the candy maker at Trudeau's in 1944/45, often sought help from Doris with various tasks. She even had to take his place one time and melt the chocolate all on her own, continually stuffing blocks of chocolate into the melting pan. Eddie liked to experiment with making different types of candy; he was hoping to later open his own store. He even asked Doris to go into business with him, but she was too shy to take him up on it, and after only six months of working at Trudeau's, she left her "sweet" job to follow relatives to California.


Memories of the Seven Up bar attest to its popularity and nostalgic value [1]


"It was like a box of chocolates in a bar" - Patrick

"Locals with sweet teeth often pine for Minnesota's great lost candy [the Seven Up bar]" - Denice

"It was my favorite candy memory" - Mark

"Finally someone remembers the 7 Up bar!" - James

"Like everyone else, I wish it would come back!" - td

"I got them at Bartells in downtown Seattle. . .I really want one." - Robert

"I would save my little change and would even look for pennies so I could get one every week." - Marie


In 1951, Pearson Candy, a Minneapolis-based company founded in 1909 by P. Edward Pearson, purchased the Trudeau Candy Company of Saint Paul, known for the famed Seven-Up Bar. This acquisition also brought the Mint Pattie to the Pearson line. [2]

In spite of the Seven-Up bar's popularity, production eventually ceased:

"The [Seven Up] bar came out in the 1930s, before the 7-Up Bottling Company began production of its soft drink - so the Trudeau Candy Company owned the trademark rights to the name. Eventually the 7-Up Bottling Company bought the bar and retired it, so they had exclusive use of the name no matter how it was spelled - Seven Up or 7-Up." [3]


[1] I Can Remember When

[2] Pearson's

[3] Neatorama, "10 Candy Bars You'll Never Eat"