The American Chicle Company was a chewing gum trust founded by Thomas Adams, Jr., with Edward E. Beeman and Jonathan Primle.
Thomas Adams
Thomas Adams (May 4, 1818 – February 7, 1905) was a 19th-century American scientist and inventor who is regarded as a founder of the chewing gum industry. Adams conceived the idea while working as a secretary to former Mexican leader Antonio López de Santa Anna, who chewed a natural gum called chicle. Adams first tried to formulate the gum into a rubber which was suitable for making tires. When that didn't work, he turned the chicle into a chewing gum called New York Chewing Gum.[1][2][3][4] Adams created his first batch of flavorless chicle balls, named Adams New York Gum No. 1, in 1859, and they sold out quickly.[5][6]
In 1870, Adams created the first flavored gum, black licorice, which he named Black Jack. He sold it from a warehouse on Front Street.[3] In 1871, Adams patented the first chewing gum making machine.[7] In 1888, his company opened a factory on Sands Street. His Tutti-Frutti gum was also one of the first to be sold in vending machines. Adams retired from the business in 1898 and his son Thomas Jr. took over.[1][8]
Company history
American Chicle Company
The American Chicle Company was incorporated in Trenton, New Jersey, on June 2, 1899.[9] Its market capitalization was $9,000,000 with one third issued as preferred stock and 6% with cumulative dividends. The business was a merger of the major chewing gum concerns at the time: Adams Sons & Company in Brooklyn; Beeman Chemical Company; W. J. White & Sons in Cleveland; J. P. Primley in Chicago; Kis-Me Gum Company Louisville, Kentucky; and S. T. Britten & Co. in Toronto.[10][11] The corporation operated factories and gum forests in Yucatan.[12] William J. White served as the company's first president and Thomas Adams Jr. Was the first chairman.[13]
Products
- Adams Sour[39]
- Beemans
- Black Jack
- Bubblicious
- Certs[40]
- Chewels[20]
- Chiclets
See also
- American Chicle Company Building, New Orleans
- Charles Ranlett Flint
External links
- — (not yet digitized)'
References
- Thomas Adams Dead The New York Times, February 8, 1905, retrieved August 14, 2017^
- Staten Island on the Web: Famous Staten Islanders New York Public Library^
- Daniel B. Schneider. F.Y.I. The New York Times, 1997-01-26, retrieved 2025-07-05