Tag Archives: Johnson’s

Tacoma Historic Society

imageThe Tacoma Historic Society at 919 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, WA 98402 has been at this location since March 2014 (two years) and today dear husband and I finally made it for a visit. I was eager to see the Tacoma Candy exhibit (Sweet Success) before it went away on March 26th. While it is not a huge museum like the Washington State History Museum, it is well curated and so very interesting.  I really loved seeing the machine that makes ribbon candy. I thought it was a musical instrument at first! The Mission Statement of the Tacoma Historical Society is as follows “Tacoma Historical Society is dedicated to the preservation, promotion and presentation of the history of the City of Tacoma and its people.” 

While the exact number of Tacoma Candy makers isn’t known, there was about 75 of them. The three remaining ones that I can think of are Brown & Haley, Johnson’s Candy and Emily’s. There is a press release about the exhibit here and the website for the museum and historic society is here.

Yum! Sweets! Johnson’s Candy

Originally uploaded by Gexydaf

In doing a little research about today’s new place of the day, I discovered that the company originally opened in 1918 as a small ice cream shop. The family owned business has a wonderful variety of candies including any kind of old fashioned chocolate that you could want. Their customer service is top notch and the place just has a comfortable feel about it. It is very much worth the trip!

The property is located at 924 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma; 253-272-8504.

An article on the business can be found at http://www.thenewstribune.com/2007/02/14/27359/a-candy-company-with-a-big-heart.html

To see how this property looked in 1993, go to http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=1&o=1&n=29877&i=7846#text